Making a Family
by smthwallflower
Summary: Sequel to "Finding a Home". Parker learns how to play nice with everyone, Nate's convinced they're fine, and Parker gets her first taste of a con.


Chapter 1

Parker presses her face against the cold glass of the window, right up next to Bunny's - together they watch the tiny rivers and lakes as they form on the other side of the glass. They don't last very long before they change into something different, but they're fun to watch. One of the lakes she's got her eye on collapses, trickling down in a jagged river as the sound of rain against the window gets a little louder.

It's raining kind of hard outside - last time she got caught in the rain, she'd slept in a tunnel in the park; there had been a gap in the plastic, which let a little water in, but she remembers thinking that it was nice that she'd found something to hide in before she got completely soaked. But now, here with Nate in a nice cozy warm home, it was even better.

The door opens and Parker turns away from the window. Eliot has his back turned to her, and he's shutting the door quietly - it's early, and Nate is still upstairs sleeping. He'd drunk the night before, after Hardison had left, and he had said that it was going to be their little secret. Parker doesn't really like secrets, but it isn't like the secrets that the other people she's stayed with asked her to keep, so she was all right with it.

Eliot's in the kitchen, and Parker climbs onto a seat at the breakfast counter, waiting for him to turn around. There are bags on his arms and he takes them off carefully, placing them down on the counter without making them rustle. "Why're you up already, darlin'?" he asks without looking over, and Parker frowns - how did he know she was there?

"It's raining," she tells him, because Nate had left the window open last night, and the rain had splashed her on the face when it started a while ago. She wants to ask why he's here so early, but she doesn't want him to think that she's being nosey. Instead she pulls Bunny up onto the table and sits him on the counter in front of her.

Eliot finally turns, with a frown on his face, and Parker doesn't know what he's thinking. She doesn't usually know what Eliot's thinking, and it makes her nervous sometimes. This time though, he smiles at her a little after a second. "Hungry?" he asks, and Parker nods quickly, just as her stomach growls. Eliot turns back to the bags and asks, "What'd you have for dinner last night?"

Dinner last night had been a bag of popcorn she'd accidentally burnt by leaving it in the microwave too long. Nate had been on the couch, and she hadn't wanted to bother him. But that's part of the secret she's keeping for Nate, so she just shrugs, gathering Bunny up in her arms and staring at his floppity ear.

"Parker?" Eliot asks, and she can feel him looking at her this time, so she shrugs again. "Did you have _anything_ to eat last night?"

It sounds like an angry question, and she doesn't want to lie to him, but it's a better choice then telling Nate's secret, and having Nate mad at her. "Yeah," she answers softly, and Eliot comes a step closer - she leans back, ready to bolt, but he doesn't come any closer.

"What'd you have?" he asks, but his tone is too nice to be asking about food.

Swallowing nervously, Parker looks behind her, at the spirally stairs, hoping that Nate will magically appear. When he doesn't, she says, "Toast," because that's an easy thing to make. Even Sophie can usually make toast.

Parker's not so good at lying, and Eliot looks up at the spirally stairs unhappily - whether or not he knows about Nate's secret, Parker doesn't know, but he was unhappy about something, and it was probably her answers. "It was really good," she says, hoping talking about it will make it seem true, "And it wasn't even burnt. And there was jam and everything."

Eliot's eyes move to look into hers, and she looks away - he keeps looking at her for a few seconds, but eventually he sighs. "Alright Parker," he says in that sad tone, and Parker shifts in her seat a little - maybe if she goes back upstairs to Nate, Eliot won't be so unhappy anymore? But then Eliot says, "Wanna come over to this side and help me cook up some breakfast?" and she hesitates for only a few seconds before nodding.

Leaving Bunny on the placemat, Parker moves to climb over the counter before she stops – last time she did that, Hardison had laughed and frowned at the same time, and had told her not to do it again. Told her that she shouldn't be climbing over stuff inside the house, and to come down off the seat and walk over – so that's what she does instead, slipping off the stool and coming around the counter.

Eliot's not as scary as he was when she first started living with Nate, but he's still big, and Parker hesitates, not sure how he wants her to help. After a second he turns around, and points to the counter, a bottle of milk in his hand: "Why don't you sit up there, and be my sous chef?"

Parker doesn't know what a soup chef is, but she nods anyways, stepping around him and climbing up to the countertop easily. He doesn't try to help her like Hardison usually does, and that feels… nice. Like he knows that she won't need the help.

Or maybe he doesn't help because he's doing something in a metal bowl.

"We're gonna make some pancakes," he says, finishing with the milk and pouring all sorts of powders into a different bowl. "You know how to make pancakes?" She doesn't, but she doesn't answer because he's beating it all together now, and she can't help but stare at how quickly his hand is moving. "Nice, sweet, home cooked pancakes – delicious, and they'll fill you right up."

When he stops, he looks up at her with a smile, soft and kind, and… happy. Usually he was grumbling, or annoyed at someone, or doing that funny face he gets sometimes that she still doesn't understand. But now he looks happy, and he keeps talking to her the way Hardison does sometimes, telling her what he puts into the bowls, and how much, and how they were going to cook it, and how it would all taste – she's already forgotten most of it, but she kind of likes listening to Eliot talk like this, and she dutifully uses a fork to take the finished pancakes off his spatula and put them on the plates.

Soon they have a plate full of pancakes, and they look brown and golden and like the best things she's seen in a while. "Hey," he says when they're nearly at the bottom of the bowl of batter, he calls it, and she's trying to resist just reaching out and grabbing a pancake right there. Part of her wonders if he's somehow managed to read her thoughts, but he's holding a banana in one hand, so she doesn't really think he has. "How about you go get changed, and then we'll enjoy some of these when you come down. Sound good?"

Parker would really rather just eat them right there and now, but she nods anyways, casting one last glance at the pile of pancakes on the plate before sliding off the counter. Running up the stairs as quickly as she can, she slows as soon as she gets to the hole in the floor. She doesn't want to wake Nate up, and it looks like he's still sleeping.

It's still cool in the room, and it smells like rain – Parker had shut the window before she went downstairs, but it hadn't had a chance to warm up yet. She changes out of her bunny pajamas in the corner, quickly slipping on a pair of pants and a long shirt before she can get too cold. It's still chilly though, so she takes one of the sweaters from the pile of clothes on the ground and pulls it on.

She moves to the bed quietly before she leaves though. Nate's lying sideways across the bed, snoring, but there's only the corner of one blanket covering him now. He must have moved after she left, and Parker carefully pulls herself halfway onto the bed, and leans across so she can pull the blankets over him properly. Thankfully he doesn't move, or seem to notice at all. He just keeps on snoring, and she stares at him for another moment before her stomach growls at her and she remembers the pancakes.

When she reaches the stairs she's running again, and she sees that Eliot's already set the table. There's a plate where she usually sits, and a plate where he usually sits. "Juice?" he asks from the kitchen, and she shrugs as she climbs the stool against the counter so she can get to where she left Bunny.

Eliot pours her juice anyways, and she jumps off the stool with Bunny as Eliot crosses over to the table. "Bon appetite," he says, pulling out the chair for her and she looks at him for a second, wondering what that means. She doesn't want to ask though, so she climbs onto the chair and he pushes it in until she's right up next to the table. It's too close for her to be able to sit up on her knees like she usually does; then again, she can still reach the plate, and Eliot's been really nice to her, and she doesn't want to ruin that.

"This one's for you," he says, taking one from the top of the stack and plopping it on her plate. It looks bumpier than the rest of the pancakes, and she looks at him, wondering what he did to it. "It's got a banana in it – try it, I bet you'll like it. And you can put some jam on it, if you want – or syrup."

A pancake with banana in it doesn't really sound like something she's going to like, and she glances at the jam. "Try it first, and then we'll see what we want to add," Eliot says, and she looks at the pancake for a second. The excitement for food has disappeared a little, but she doesn't want to upset Eliot, and maybe it'll be good? Ripping a little piece off, she sees the bit of banana poking out, and sticks it in her mouth, chewing cautiously.

Eliot's looking at her like he's hoping she'll like it, and the pancake is delicious, and the banana doesn't taste nearly as weird as she thought it would. It kind of makes everything smoother, and she nods happily, picking up the rest of the pancake.

"Cutlery," Eliot says, and she looks at the knife and fork with a frown. Looking at him, she slowly puts a piece of pancake into her mouth, watching for any sign that he'll get upset – but he just smiles and laughs, and tells her not to let Sophie see her eat like that.

Eliot laughing is… nice, and she squirms a little more on the chair, still a little uncomfortable, but drinks her juice and eats her pancakes happily. It's when Eliot's cleaning up, and taking the syrup drenched plate from her, that she notices the bruise.

"What's that?" she asks, pointing to his forearm, pushing the seat out from the table and getting off so she can follow him into the kitchen, Bunny held tightly in her hand.

"What's what?" he asks patiently, pulling open the dishwasher and loading it. Parker leans against the cabinets and watches him, pointing again,

"That."

Eliot pauses and glances down at his arm. The sleeve is higher up than it was earlier, and he quickly tugs it back down. "Nothing," he says, smiling again, but this smile looks different than his food-smile.

"Does it hurt?" Parker asks softly, because she's gotten bruises like that before, and they hurt _her_, but this is Eliot, and he's just so big, she can't imagine anything hurting him.

Eliot gives her a weird look for a second, and then shakes his head. "No, not really. It's nothing, promise."

Parker nods, because that's what she used to say too. "How'd you get it?" she asks, Bunny coming up under her chin, and she leans into his head, feeling the soft fur and feeling a little better.

"Ran into a door," Eliot says after a pause, and Parker nods; that's what she used to say too, or something like that. But it doesn't look like a door bruise; it looks like Eliot was hit by something. It's too big for a door bruise, especially since it looks like it keeps going up and up and up his arm. But she doesn't know how to ask if he's lying, and she doesn't want him to think that she's being annoying, so she just sits down on the floor beside the dishwasher and plays with Bunny until Eliot's done with the dishes.

When he finishes, he wipes his hands on the dishtowel, and looks around the apartment.

"Where's Hardison?" Parker asks from the floor, softly, so that Eliot doesn't have to answer if he doesn't want to. She doesn't want him to think that she's bored with him, but it's usually Hardison that's here with her in the mornings, and she kind of misses his voice.

"Had something he needed to do," Eliot says, and Parker doesn't press for any more answers, because it doesn't sound like Eliot wants to give them. So she stays where she is, Bunny on her knees, leaning back against the cabinets. She waits for Eliot to say something, or do something, and after a minute of silence, Eliot clears his throat and says,

"Why don't you watch some cartoons or something?"

That means that Eliot doesn't want her around anymore, and she's okay with that because she's had a good time, and she gets up to go to the couch without protest. "Are you going to watch with me?" she asks as she moves, looking back – Hardison usually sat with her and watched while Eliot stayed in the kitchen.

"Sorry darlin', I have something I need to go take care of – Nate'll be up in a few, won't he?"

Parker doesn't think that Nate will be up in a few of anything, but she nods anyway. Eliot wants to leave, and she's not going to stop him – she's just happy that she's not hungry anymore. Maybe she shouldn't have asked about his bruise?

Eliot turns on the television for her before he leaves, and tells her to call if she needs anything. When Parker looks out the window, it's still raining, and she curls up on the couch with Bunny and tries to pay attention to what the cartoon animals are saying, but she can't stop thinking about Eliot's bruise, and all the ways that his answers to her questions seemed familiar.

Chapter 2

Nate woke with a start, and in an instant his mind was being bombarded with sensations. Half his body was cold, the other half was warm; he'd slept on one of his arms awkwardly, and lost all sensation in it – he could tell from the pressure that ended at his shoulder. The other arm was extended outright, and his hand seemed to be pressed against something wet, and cold. The neckline of his shirt was pulling against his throat, and the blankets were wrapped up so tightly around his body that the first time he tried to sit up, he ended falling right back down. A rumble of thunder sounded outside the window, and he realized that the persistent rattling he was hearing was the rain outside, and not just noise in his head.

Instead of trying to get up again, he lay still for a moment, breathing deeply and letting his mind wake up with the rest of him. He'd gotten a little drunk last night, sipping on Irish whiskey while Parker curled up next to him and watched TV. Usually he had a nightcap or two after the rest of the team vacated the residence – or had a few sips from the bottle in the solitude of his room, if Hardison was sticking around for the night. But last night…

Nate groaned, rolling over and kicking off some of the blankets that had been restraining him. It was almost 10:00, and even though Parker had only been here a few weeks, he knew that she'd already be up. Parker had a strange tenacity for waking up early, even if it meant that some days he would look up around noon to see her sleeping soundly on the couch.

When he finally managed to unravel his arms from the blanket cocoon, he saw that she had in fact already left the bed. There was no sign of Parker anywhere, or even of her ratty stuffed rabbit. There was an empty bottle lying on the floor, but the room was chilly and cool – when he finally sat up, he noticed that the left side of the bed was wet. The rain was pounding relentlessly against the window, and there was a flash of light that illuminated the room; Nate counted to four before the accompanying thunder sounded. Feeling began to return to his arm and he winced, rolling it out.

There was a storm outside, and the wetness in the bed was unsettlingly close to where Parker slept. Forgoing the traditional shower, Nate forced himself all the way out of bed, complete with rumpled clothes, and headed downstairs. The faint smell of pancakes wafted up at him, and he absently thought that it was strange that Eliot had been over so early. He nearly face planted when he missed the first step, and he gripped the railing firmly before he continued down.

It wasn't a hangover, per say, just… a protest from his body. A vague resentment that was inconvenient and annoying, rather than painful. There was one sure-fire way to fix it, but the first thing on his mind was securing one particular Parker. "Parker?" he called out, on the foot of the stairs. He couldn't see her anywhere, but that didn't mean anything – Parker had the impressive ability of being able to hide in plain sight, and he usually found himself looking right over her.

"Nate?" came the soft, questioning voice, and he looked over to the couch, where just Parker's head was visible. Her eyes were large and round, her face white, and she winced at the sound of another distant crack of thunder.

"Hey," he said softly, flexing his hand as the pins and needles finally gave way to the odd warmth of feeling. "When'd you get up?"

"Dunno," she answered with a small shrug – her face ducked out of sight as he came closer, and he saw when he came around the couch that the bottom of it was pressed into the back of the rabbit's head.

"Eliot make pancakes?" he asked, still trying to discern whether or not the thunderstorm was terrifying her, or if it was something else. He sat on the edge of the couch and there was a flash of hope in her eyes – it disappeared almost at once, but he took the clue and shifted so that he was sitting on the cushion of the couch.

Parker inched closer to him, her hands still gripped tightly around her rabbit. "Yeah," she said softly, clearly torn between coming to him and, well, coming near him.

Nate opened his arm to her, asking her gently, "Wanna come here?"

After a second Parker nodded, inching the rest of the way until she was pressed up against his side – a shower was definitely in order soon, he thought to himself as he caught a whiff, but she didn't seem to mind. This close, he could feel her trembling every now and then, and it made him hug her closer still. "Don't like the thunder?" he asked softly, kindly, trying to let her know that it was okay to be afraid of things.

"'s alright," she muttered, and Nate could see that her eyes were closed. Her body jolted a little at the next clap of thunder, and Nate shifted slightly on the couch, so that he was more comfortable. Parker shifted with him, stuck to his side the entire time, and he put his feet up on the couch, stretching out, leaning his head against the armrest.

"Do you know how to tell how far away the lightening is?" he asked, and Parker shook her head half-heartedly against his chest. "You count the time between the flash of lightening, and the sound of the thunder. You see the lightening, you count the seconds, and for every five seconds that passes, you know that's a mile away."

"Mm," Parker murmured, and Nate could tell that she was going to be asleep in a minute or two. His own eyes were feeling sore and tired, and his eyelids were heavy.

There was another sound of thunder, and this one didn't register with her – her breathing evened out, and the death grip on the rabbit loosened so that the color returned to her knuckles. Hopelessly he looked around for a blanket within reach to cover them with, but there was nothing around.

"Parker?" he asked softly, but she didn't respond. Her body was growing heavy, and it was a comfortable weight – the one deep in his chest though, felt like an anchor. He couldn't very well leave now – that would mean dislodging her and taking the risk of waking her up. Parker was scared of the thunder, and who knew how much of the storm he'd already slept through?

Leaning his head down, he placed a small kiss on the top of her head, then wiggled down a little further on the couch so that he wouldn't wake up with a back ache. Parker shifted in unconscious protest, but the second he pressed his cheek into her hair she stopped, settling down once more.

It wasn't long before he closed his eyes as well, relishing the way they instantly felt cooler. Parker was doing well to warm up the side that had been frozen when he'd woken, and in a few minutes he was asleep too.

Chapter 3

Parker wakes up to the sound of the front door opening – but she's in Nate's arms, and she knows because she can smell him, and she can feel his arm around her, so she doesn't look up to see who it is. The sound of their shoes makes her think it's Sophie, and the person walks into the room and pauses for a second. The "aw" Parker hears tells her that that it _is_ Sophie, but she's still sleepy, and Nate's warm and comforting and secure, so she closes her eyes again. Sophie moves away, and goes up the stairs, and Parker all but forgets about her.

There's some distant thunder, but she can barely hear it. It's still raining outside, hard, so hard that the glass sounds like it's going to break. For a while she dozes in Nate's arms, listening to the rise and fall of Nate's chest, to the beat of his heart – she likes that the best, when she can hear his heart beating against his chest, when she can hear him being alive.

The nice sound is interrupted when Parker hears Sophie crouch in front of her – Sophie's knees crack sometimes when she moves, and so Parker opens her eyes slowly to see what Sophie wants.

"Hi, love," Sophie says with a tight smile, and Parker clings onto Nate a little harder. She doesn't want to leave Nate right now, not when he's all sleepy and alive and warm, but she knows that's what Sophie's going to want. It's always what Sophie wants, and while Parker knows that Sophie usually wins, she also knows that sometimes Sophie will just go away. "Come have some breakfast, yeah?"

Parker wants to ignore her, but instead she shakes her head. "Eliot made pancakes," she whispers, so that she doesn't wake Nate up.

"And when did he do that?" Sophie asks, and Parker shrugs, because she doesn't know what time it is. Sophie doesn't seem like she cares very much, and she motions for Parker to come with her. "Come on, time to get up now."

"I don't want to," Parker whispers, a little more strongly, her grip on Nate tightening in earnest.

Sophie gives her a look that says she's not very happy, but Nate's still sleeping, so Parker doesn't know why she can't be sleeping too. "Parker, I have to talk to Nate. You're going to go stay with Hardison for a bit – you'll have fun there, won't you?"

Parker shakes her head, and buries her face in Nate's shirt – but Sophie's been too loud, and Parker can hear the change in Nate's breath, and she just holds on and pretends that she's not there.

"Nate," Sophie says in her angry voice. Parker doesn't like her angry voice.

"Sophie," Nate replies, but he's still sleeping a little, and Parker can hear the confusion as he talks. "What're you doing here?"

"I was just going to take Parker to Hardison's – you have that appointment today? Remember?"

"What appointment?" Nate asks, and Parker doesn't know if she's imagining it, but it feels like Nate's holding her a little more tightly.

Sophie sighs, loudly. "The one with the client? Seriously Nate?"

Parker wants Nate to not remember, to say no, to close his eyes again and go back to sleep, but there's a pause where he doesn't breathe, and then he's sitting up. "Of course I remember that – that's not until later."

"But I'm going to take Parker to Hardison's _now_," Sophie insists, and she uses that voice she does where she's trying to say more than she actually is. Nate's sitting up now, and Parker can feel herself slipping down a little, and she tries to grip on harder.

"Parker?" Nate asks, and that's when she realizes that her fingers are fisted in his shirt, and that she's pulling it tightly.

Reluctantly she lets go, and Sophie tries to take her hand. "Come on now," Sophie says nicely, but Parker pulls away from her, squirming down so that she's stuck between the couch and Nate. "Nate," Sophie says, impatient, and Parker knows that she's annoyed, and that it's her fault, but she stays where she is stubbornly.

"Parker," Nate says, and he still sounds a little sleepy, but she gets the feeling that he's going to tell her she has to go. "I got some stuff I need to do today – you're alright at Hardison's, right?" he asks, and Parker looks up at him, disappointed.

"I wanna stay with you," she tells him quietly, avoiding Sophie's look, and Nate's eyes. There's another crack of thunder and she winces, pulling in closer to Nate.

Nate looks at Sophie, and Sophie looks at Nate, and Parker doesn't really know what they're saying to each other, but she can tell that it's not good for her. "You'll be fine with Hardison," Nate insists, sitting up on the couch and putting his feet on the ground – it means that she doesn't have anything to lean against anymore, and she pulls her feet up onto the couch and clutches Bunny tighter.

"I don't want to," Parker says, and Nate's head falls down so that it's in his hands, and he makes an unhappy noise. "Please?" she adds quietly, hoping he doesn't get mad.

But Nate doesn't usually get mad, he just… goes away in his head a little. Parker doesn't like it, but when Nate turns to look at her, that's where he's gone. "Go get your stuff ready – I'll pick you up in a few hours. You'll be fine, I promise."

Parker looks at him for a few seconds, and feels her eyes burning, and her shoulders trembling – before she can start crying, she scrambles over the arm of the couch and runs upstairs.

For a moment she wonders what would happen if she crawled under the bed and tried to hide there – Nate and Sophie were both too big to get under it and get her, and maybe they would just forget she was there? But she doesn't want Nate to get mad at her, and Sophie was probably already mad at her, and she doesn't want to do anything that'll make things worse.

There isn't much stuff to get – just a jacket, because Bunny's already with her. It's still raining, and she glances at the window just as it fills with a burst of light – and she stares, watching the window where the light had been, until finally the sky cracks.

Terrified, she grabs a hat and runs down the rest of the stairs; she flies down them so fast she almost trips.

Sophie waits by the door with her coat on, and Nate's stands in the kitchen next to his coffee machine – Parker goes to Nate first, looking for comfort, and she manages to get her arms around his waist before he moves them away, so he can crouch down.

"You'll be fine with Hardison," he says, taking her face in his hands, and she tries to squirm away, because he hasn't really touched her like this before, and she doesn't know what it means. "Hey," he says softly, and she stops squirming to look at him. "I promise," he says, and then he leans forward and kisses her on the forehead – Parker's still confused when he pulls away, and she lets him help her into her coat, even though she doesn't need help.

"Ready to go?" Sophie asks, sounding too happy, and Nate takes her hand and walks her over to the door. Parker doesn't say anything, just looks at Nate, and he gives her a nice smile, and then passes her hand to Sophie. She doesn't want to hold Sophie's, but she doesn't pull away, because Nate wants her to go.

"Bye," she says softly, wondering if she's saying goodbye forever, and when Sophie leaves, she goes with her.

Chapter 4

Coffee and a shower were definitely in order, but Nate couldn't get the sight of Parker's dazed confusion out of his head. As much as he needed to get changed and ready for the con… he should've stayed with Parker, at least until the storm was over. The only thing he could think about was her face, so pale and terrified, pleading to stay. Nate knew he wasn't sending her off to danger, but she'd been scared… there were so many times that he saw fear in her eyes and couldn't fix it – this was one time that he could have, he hated that he didn't.

Part of him knew that Sophie was right – taking her to the con was a step beyond what would ever be acceptable. Not to mention the security risk, and he could never put her in danger like that. But still, the way she was huddled up between him and the couch, and the way she was lashing out at Sophie… Hopefully she would be all right with Hardison, and he made a mental note to spend some more time with her tonight.

The coffee was scalding hot, and exactly what he needed to get his head out of the gutter and into the game. A splash of whiskey soothed over his itch, and he headed up the stairs to get changed.

The empty whiskey bottle that had been on the floor was sitting in the middle of the bed – Parker never touched his alcohol, and he mentally groaned when he realized that it meant Sophie had been up here.

Well, that made sense – her icy responses wouldn't have been limited to just expressing displeasure at sleeping in so late. And she'd been short with him too, once Parker had gotten out of hearing range, ragging at him for being a mess. He left the bottle where it was, heading into the bathroom and slipping out of his clothes.

Sure, it wasn't the neatest room in the world, but it wasn't like Parker minded. And it wasn't like he minded. And yes, perhaps the empty bottle had found its way to the floor last night, but it wasn't like it bothered Parker. She'd been happy as ever, curled up with her head on his lap, watching television. She just got quiet sometimes at night, and every once in a while her eyes got sort of big and worried…

Stubbornly, Nate ignored those thoughts; instead, he thought about today, about the various scenarios, and how he'd be able to tweak them to his interests. Hardison had set up cameras to loop with a click of a button – Irene was handling swapping out the legal files with the new ones Hardison had forged. Eliot would be outside watching the goon squad, in case of complications – last night they'd nearly caught Sophie doubling back after her evening with the CFO, and that meant they were a little better trained than Nate had anticipated. All the same, there wasn't much that could stand up against Eliot, and he'd made quick work of the tails.

The trick today was going to be getting the CFO out of the office long enough to do the switch… which was where Sophie came in; they'd be doing a classic Runaround stall, with Nate as a belligerent drunk. Eliot would be the second runner, and even Irene could step in if she was done with the switch.

There was a small chance that neither of them would be available, and the CFO wouldn't fall for Nate's game… if chivalry and the prospect of more money wasn't enough for Roberts, then he could always pull a Double Pedestal. Sophie would catch on quick enough, and while Eliot and Irene were likely to be confused, they'd been around enough to go with it. They'd definitely need Eliot out in the field in that case – the muscle was bound to come running once Nate and Sophie tried to one-up each other… And that only left Parker to worry about. She probably wouldn't react well to Hardison talking without being able to hear what the others were saying, but -

"Nate?"

Sophie's voice penetrated his thoughts, and he realized that he'd just been standing there, under the water, thinking.

"Yeah," he called out to her, wiping the water off his face, rubbing his eyes as he turned the facet off. "Coming, just one-"

The towel appeared beside the shower curtain, and he took it with just a little trepidation. "Sophie?" he asked cautiously, wondering what the hell she was doing in here, and why she thought coming into the bathroom while he was showering was okay.

"Well, get dressed – we don't have all day," was her clipped reply, and he toweled his torso off quickly before wrapping the towel around his waist and cautiously opening the shower curtain.

No Sophie to be seen, but the door to the bathroom was still open, and he could just see the last bits of steam escaping through it. Stepping out, he peered through the open door and saw Sophie putting together an outfit on the bed.

"Uh, what're you doing?" Nate asked, a little flustered. Half naked and fresh from a shower, with a Sophie in his room who may or may not have chosen this moment to be passive aggressive. The worst part was that he really wasn't sure what was going on.

Sophie looked at him like he was a moron, and waved to the bed, "Setting some clothes out. You're morning attire didn't fill me with much confidence, so I took it upon myself to make sure you looked presentable."

Again, his reply was a little flustered, but this time also a little annoyed as he cautiously tried to assess the situation; he was an explorer out on the ice, testing it carefully for cracks. "I can dress myself Sophie."

"I'm sure you can," she said genially, her voice pitching into her false range. Passive aggressive, Nate decided, this was definitely Sophie being passive aggressive – it was the bottle, he deduced, and his appearance earlier this morning, and all of it.

"You know you don't technically live here, right?" he asked, irritation rearing its ugly head once again. "And no one who actually lives here minds the state of anything?"

They were talking about the other thing, the thing they weren't talking about, and Sophie shook her head at him, disappointed, angry, and upset, all rolled into one. "Just get dressed Nate, and let's get this job over with."

There was a pause where they looked at one another – there were things that Sophie wanted to say, Nate could see it; and he could see how she stopped herself too – she wasn't going to say anything right now, and if she wasn't going to say anything, then he'd like a moment in private to change, thank you very much.

Fine, she said, folding her arms, and he knew that he hurt her, somehow, but he couldn't bring himself to think about all the possible reasons why – there were too many, and they didn't have that much time. With another shake of her head she was gone, disappearing down the stairs, her heels clicking against the metallic steps.

Just to spite her, Nate went into his closet and pulled out a different outfit – similar, but he did add a hat, just to piss her off. It's trite and childish, he was well aware, but when he saw the bottle on the bed, her attempt to control him, he felt better about it.

When he came down, Sophie was sitting at the breakfast bar, flipping through a magazine. "Ready?" she asked, without looking back at him, and he felt his lips tightening. So it was going to be that kind of day was it?

"When you are," Nate said, straightening his jacket and checking himself in the mirror. Tilting the hat a little farther back, he nodded at his reflection, and turned back just in time to see the flash of annoyance on Sophie's face.

"Let's go then," Sophie said tightly, and Nate smiled at her, just a little. With a huff she turned, throwing the door open and not even bothering to wait for him.

This was going to be a fun day.

Chapter 5

"Hey mama," Hardison says as he opens the door, and Parker lets go of Sophie's hand as quickly as she can so that she can bolt into the house. Sophie had been trying to talk to her the entire way down, but Parker had done her best to stay quiet. Nate had told her to go with Sophie, but he hadn't said anything about being nice to her. And right now, Sophie was the person that had taken her away, and she never, ever liked those people.

Hardison makes a noise as she passes him, shoving off her wet rain jacket and then sitting down against the wall to get her shoes off. Hardison looks at Sophie in confusion, and Sophie just shrugs. "Parker's been… a little grumpy today, wouldn't you say Parker?"

Parker almost sticks her tongue out at Sophie, but decides against it – Hardison's looking at her with that sad, disappointed look, and she suddenly feels a little bad for trying ot ignore Sophie.

"Why's that little bug?" Hardison asks, and Parker glares at Sophie, hating Sophie for telling on her, and grips Bunny a little harder. Hardison looks at Sophie, and Sophie shrugs, giving him a look that Parker doesn't understand.

"Nate and I will be by after the thing to come get her. Let us know if something happens – we'll be on the coms. Have fun, Parker," Sophie calls to her, and Parker stubbornly doesn't look up until the door closes and Sophie's gone.

The next thing she knows, Hardison's crouching down in front of her, looking confused. "What's the matter, Parker?" he asks, sounding honestly nice, and concerned, and completely different than Sophie, and Parker can't help but push herself off the wall and wrap her arms around his neck. "Whoa there," he says gently, rubbing her back as she buries her face in his shoulder. "What's this all about?"

"I hate her," Parker whines, trying to keep the shakiness out of her voice, trying not to cry. The words come out with no warning, and she freezes when she hears them, wondering if Hardison's going to hate _her_ now. Sophie was part of their group, and Parker was new, and Hardison was going to choose Sophie over Parker, wasn't he?

But Hardison doesn't pull away, or hit her, or throw her out – he just keeps holding her, wrapping his arms a little tighter around her so that when he stands, all she has to do is wrap her legs around him, and he's holding her. "What's up with that, mama?" he asks, and she doesn't pull away from his shoulder, but she knows he's trying to look at her.

Parker just shakes her head, wanting Nate, and wanting Sophie to be gone. Wanting Sophie to stop taking Nate away from her, and to stop being so mean and… Sophie.

Hardison starts walking with her, still patting her back, and she peeks over the back of his shoulder to see where they're going. She can see them leaving the hallway behind, and going through the kitchen, and then through to the other room, the room with the huge television.

And then he's sitting on the couch, and she lets him move her so that she's sitting sideways on his lap, leaning against his chest.

"Why'd you think you hate Sophie?" he asks again, holding her, and she shakes her head. "Parker," he says patiently, and Parker just holds onto Bunny all the tighter. "Parker, I don't think Nate would be too happy to know that you hate one of his friends," Hardison says, and Parker can't tell if it's supposed to be a threat, or if it's just… a statement.

"She's always mean to me," Parker says softly, into Bunny's head, and Hardison looks down at her, confused,

"What'd you mean?"

Parker shrugs, self-conscious now that she's on the spot. She shouldn't have said anything, just kept her mouth shut, and had a fun time with Hardison. Now they were talking, about things she didn't want to talk about, and she was probably going to get in trouble with Nate. She knew that hating people was a bad thing, but Sophie just made her… so angry.

"What happened?" Hardison asks when she doesn't answer, and again, Parker shrugs. "Parker," he says, and he's sounding a little less patient, "I can't help you out if you don't tell me what happened."

"She made me leave Nate," Parker mutters, so quietly that she's not sure Hardison can even hear it. And even though Nate was the one who said she had to go, Sophie was the one who started it all, the one who came in and gave Nate the idea.

"Oh mama," Hardison says, and he's rocking the both of them a little back and forth, "Nate and Sophie were both going to drop you off here today – Nate just wasn't ready to leave yet, so Sophie had to do it alone."

Parker doesn't really know what to do with that information, so she just keeps staring down at Bunny until Hardison says, "Parker? Was there something else?"

It takes a second, but finally Parker says, "She doesn't want me to be with Nate – she's always… coming in and… being with him."

Hardison doesn't say anything back for a while this time, just keeps rocking them back and forth. There's a rumble of thunder somewhere in the distance, but Parker's already starting to feel a little sleepy.

"Did you know that Sophie and Nate've known each other a long time?" Hardison asks after a minute of silence, and Parker shakes her head. "Yeah, they met like, ages ago. Probably before you were born. It's not that Sophie doesn't like you Parker it's just that… Nate and her are complicated. They've got this thing going, you know? They don't really know what it is, we don't really know what it is, but… it's there, you know?"

"No," Parker mutters, her eyes already half closed.

"Sophie really likes you Parker," Hardison tells her, and he sounds like he believes it, "It's just that she really likes Nate too. She's not trying to keep you away from Nate; she's just trying to be with Nate. And you. And, we're all just still trying to figure it out, you know?"

Parker's still listening, but she doesn't really hear what he's saying – she always likes to listen to his voice, but sometimes, it just makes her really sleepy.

"Sophie's not trying to be mean to you Parker," is the last thing she hears, "She's just trying to do what's best for you _and_ Nate."

Chapter 6

"_How's Parker_?" Eliot asks through the coms, and Hardison's voice is clear, but subdued, when he says,

"_Sleeping like a log. She passed out almost as soon as she got here – how's it looking out there?_"

"_All clear out here_," Eliot says, "_Three goons out front, and one in the car across the street._"

"_Just waiting for Sophie to clear with big shot._" Irene, her voice muffled, probably a product of wherever she'd chosen to hide. By the sound of it, either a trashcan, or a metallic cabinet filled with paper. Nate really wasn't sure which, but he was betting on the trashcan.

They hadn't been planning on Parker falling asleep, but it made things a little easier. Nate had explained to her their… special job, but he had the distinct feeling that she hadn't really understood it. Sure, she gave the necklace she'd stolen to Sophie so that Sophie could return it, but there was a certain kind of nod that he was coming to call the Nate-nod; sometimes, when he said something, he felt like she would be nodding no matter what it was.

"_Come, walk me down to the lobby_," Sophie requested in her Lebanese accent, and Nate heard the start of a protest, but she quashed it with a light laugh – he could almost see her putting her hand on Roberts' arm. "_Now, don't be like that. Wouldn't want me to think that you were just pretending to be nice all this time_."

There was a laugh, and Nate tuned them out as Sophie started to small talk. "I'm going to be going in when they reach the lobby," he said – it was probably the fourth time he'd explained the plan, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was going to go wrong. "We're doing the Runaround – Roberts comes down with Sophie, I intercept them in the lobby, Sophie helps me strike up a conversation, and we pull Roberts into it. Irene goes in and does the switch, Eliot's watching the front doors, ready to intercept, and Hardison's - "

"_Got the security footage to the office – look, Nate, man, we got this. Chillax, all right dude? It's gonna go smooth as a - _"

Thankfully, at that moment, Sophie and Roberts come out of the elevator, and Nate waltzed into the lobby, drunken stagger in place.

"Oh!" he shouted when he saw Sophie and Roberts, and the people at the front desk looked up at him in surprised alarm. "It's alright," he waved them off, moving closer to Sophie and Roberts, "It's these guys that I – how do you do?" he asked, suddenly changing focus, and the desk people didn't look reassured.

"Hello," Sophie said pleasantly, her smile strained, arm firmly attached to Roberts, standing just a little bit behind the man, to give the illusion that he was already protecting her.

"Hi there gorgeous – now, what do you say you dump this jerk and come have a good time with me, huh?" Nate threw in an obnoxious gum smack, because that's what assholes did, and raised his eyebrows suggestively.

"Oh," Sophie gasped, clearly offended, her hand coming up to Robert's shoulder, encouraging him to act. "Carl," she prompted quietly, trying to be discreet, shifting uncomfortably.

Nate did his best to look obnoxiously offended. "No, not going to come with me?"

At that point, the front lobby security decided to intervene, and they gently stepped between the two. "Excuse me sir," the officer said, and Nate took a step back, his arms wide in exaggerated disbelief,

"What, I come by and talk to my chica and I get harassed. Com'on Mariam! Tell 'em!"

"Mariam?" Roberts asked looking over at Sophie, and suddenly the security guards didn't look as confident in themselves.

"I – it," Sophie looked flustered, eyes darting between the two before taking a considering look at Nate. "Mariam who?" she asked, politely, trying another forced smile.

"Exactly!" Nate grinned wide, side stepping around the security guard with more finesse then any drunk man had the right to have, and clapped Sophie on the shoulder, "Mariam Who!"

"I - " Sophie's grip on Roberts tightened, and he rose to the bait, stepping between the two of them,

"No, I think she was asking who."

The grin dropped off Nate's face, and he stared at Roberts for a beat. Then, "Yes! Mariam who! Exactly!"

The vibe of the day was: 'they're all friends here', and Nate grabbed both their shoulders, shaking them just a little. Sophie's eyes widened and her head jerked just a little to the side – too much, she was saying, and Nate, annoyed as he was with her at the moment, backed off a little.

"I dropped by to see Stu, and then I come by here, and see my favorite little who, and it's Miriam! Imagine that!" And if the enthused look on his face didn't sell that he was a complete nutter, he didn't know what would.

"_Little heavy on the Doctor Seuss there, Nate,"_ Hardison commented, and Nate resisted the urge to tell him to can it. It wasn't like he could at the moment – they just needed to stall until Irene could get out of the office and –

"_Problem,"_ Irene said, at the same time that Nate could hear Parker in the background of Hardion's com asking,

"_Doctor Who?" _

"_Parker - "_

"_There's no file in here. This isn't where he keeps it." _

"_Who're you talking to?" _

"_No one mama, just - "_

"_Where else would he keep it?" _

"_But you're talking to someone!" _

Sophie cleared her throat, loud and awkward, sounding as uncomfortable as she should be. It brought Nate back to the scene he was supposed to be causing, and he clapped Roberts on the shoulder, laughing. "You know what?" he said, leaning in closer and dropping his drunken persona, "I think you should take a really long look at the person who you have on your arm. A really good, long look."

"_Parker, see that screen? Eliot and Sophie and Nate are all in the same place, and I'm trying to help them out, but I can't if - "_

"_Can I talk to Nate too?!" _

Sophie gasped, and it wasn't a con gasp, and Nate could almost see her mind figuring out what game they're running now. "Don't listen to him Carl, he's clearly drunk-" she started, but then Nate interrupted,

"Or, she could just be swindling you."

"_Not really the greatest time, mama." _

"_What the hell is going on?"_ Eliot's growl came through the coms, and Nate could hear Hardison and Parker in the background, arguing.

"_But I want to talk to them too." _

"Swindling?" Roberts asked, looking confused, which was really more or less his default expression.

"_In a little while, alright? I promise." _

"Oh please," Sophie snapped, stepping away and claiming her own by straightening up and waving her handbag at Nate, "This man has been out for me ever since we worked together, years ago. He's just here to try and sabotage our arrangement – don't try and deny it," Sophie accused, pointing the handbag at him, and Nate laughed.

"Listen buddy," Nate started, but the security guards came to step between him again. "Hey, get out of here," he told them, and they looked at Roberts, who nodded.

"Goons coming in – Nate?" Eliot asked, and Nate nodded his thanks to Roberts,

"Thank you, for getting rid of them. Now we can talk." The sound of the fight as Eliot took out the goons was easy to tune out – hopefully Hardison hadn't given Parker one of the spare coms, because he'd much rather she didn't hear it. "We worked together a while ago, and you know what happened?"

"What?" Roberts asked, his eyes narrowing cautiously. Sophie shifted a little to make both her and Nate an equal distance apart.

"I made a shit ton of money," Nate grinned, and Roberts looked suspicious, "And then she played the stock market, ruined the stock so her investment succeeded, and I lost it all."

"That was your fault!" Sophie accused, hitting him in the shoulder with the handbag – and that got Nate's attention; it just seemed so… Sophie. "What do you think I was supposed to do? You know what you'd do with that money? You'd just waste it all on booze, and gambling, and ruin your life!"

"And the other option is what, letting you dictate my every move? A man's gotta be a man, am I right?" he asked Roberts, who looked a little shell-shocked from Sophie's momentary blow up.

"Well, what else am I supposed to do?! Let you stumble around until you finally realize what you've got?"

It was quickly becoming too easy to find the subtext, and too hard to separate the con from the domestic. Nate couldn't track when it had happened, but it was happening. He turned to Sophie, genuinely angry, "What, you don't think I realize what I've got?"

"It sure as hell doesn't look like you do," Sophie yelled, and Nate couldn't help but step up to her,

"And how do _you_ know what I do and don't know?" he demanded, but Sophie stood her ground, even leaning in a little.

"Because I can see it – and I can see where it's going. And you can't."

Of course he could see where things were going – he knew all the angles, all the variables; he could see the potential pitfalls and hiccups, and she had the misfortune of not knowing the whole story. And he opened his mouth to tell her just that, but Irene's voice came over the coms, whispering:

"_Found them – and switched… and getting out now." _

"You know what?" he said instead, turning away from Sophie, and clapping Roberts on the arm, "Have fun with that one. But just let me tell you, she's not worth it!"

The sting of the insult lingered harshly as he turned on his heel and stormed out. He could hear Sophie making things up, trying to salvage the situation. Of course, she wasn't trying very hard – they didn't need Roberts anymore, there was no point in keeping him roped in.

Nate slammed the door of the car as he got into it, sitting down in the seat and staring hard at the dashboard. He was waiting for Sophie to come out – Eliot would take Irene in the getaway car, and they'd all meet back at his apartment.

But first, they needed to pick up Parker, and wouldn't that just be a cheery event – Sophie opened the door and shut it quietly, slipping into her seat. The air between them was thick and awkward – they both knew it, but neither of them was apologetic.

"_Nate?"_

Parker's voice rang out quietly through the coms, and Hardison said,

"_And now they can hear you. I gave Parker a com, Nate."_

"Hey Parker," Nate said, smiling in a vain attempt to sound happier than he actually was. "Having a good time with Hardison?"

Parker launched into a monologue laced with rhetorical questions – he mhmm'd and oh'd along, grateful that she was saving him and Sophie from trying to make idle conversation.

Chapter 7

The ride back from Hardison's had been quiet and awkward – Nate and Sophie weren't talking to one another, and Hardison had this serious look on his face, like he was thinking really hard. Parker had sat quietly in the back with Bunny, holding him on her lap and watching the things go by the window.

There was no one in the apartment when they got there. For a while, Parker was worried that Nate and Sophie were going to fight, but they still hadn't, and she was sitting on the couch now, Bunny in her arms, watching Hardison do things on the Internet. The pictures flashed across the screen, and sometimes Hardison would mutter to himself, and sometimes he would explain to her what he was doing.

The door opens while Hardison's focusing on the screen, and Parker stands up to look over the edge of the couch – Eliot walks in, and a strange lady following him. She's tall – taller than Sophie.

"Files are switched," she says as she comes in, and Parker ducks her head back behind the couch, looking over at Hardison, who's watching her curiously.

"Good – now we just need to make sure that Roberts presents those in court. It won't work if he holds out on us. Hardison?"

Hardison looks away from Parker, and half turns so he can talk to everyone else, "Yeah, I'm on it. The prosecutor's going to get an anonymous tip, and I've rigged up the Google search so it's the first thing that pops up. No way they won't ask the questions."

"Good – Eliot?"

"I'll be watching the Shaw's tonight to make sure no one gets to them. After tomorrow, they should be in the clear."

Hardison glances at Parker again when she slips off the couch, but he doesn't say anything as she moves towards Nate. She tries to move quietly, so that she doesn't distract anyone, but Eliot sees her the second she appears from behind the couch, and gives her a smile. Sophie doesn't notice her, and Nate's back is turned to her – the strange lady is standing on Nate's other side, and Parker isn't sure whether she wants to go on Sophie's side, or the lady's side.

"Right – and that should cover all our bases. Irene, you're inside tomorrow – keep us updated on what's happening in court. Hardison's got eyes on it from out here too, and Sophie's on stand by. Everyone got it?"

Parker can tell that Irene's noticed her. Irene hasn't looked at her or anything, but Parker knows that Irene knows she's there.

"And if something goes wrong?" Irene asks, taking a step away from Nate – Parker stares at the empty space for a moment, and then slips into it, standing quietly beside Nate, close to his leg. Eliot's watching her, and his knuckle looks bruised, and Sophie gives her a quick glance before ignoring her.

Nate shakes his head, his hand coming out to rest on Parker's shoulder, and Parker takes that to mean that it's okay that she's there. "Nothing will go wrong. Trust me, it'll work."

Nate looks around at everyone else, but when no one says anything, he gives a quick nod. "Tomorrow, then, we steal back the land, and we steal back the money," and he walks out of the circle. For a second Parker stays where she is, confused about where Nate's going.

"Parker," Eliot says, and she looks over at him, "That's Irene." Parker takes a step away from Irene as Sophie follows Nate over to the desk that he sits at sometimes.

"Hi Parker," Irene says, smiling at her, and Parker just stares, holding onto Bunny tightly.

There's silence for a few moments, and Eliot unfolds his arms, leaning back against the counter. "Say hi, Parker," he tells her, and Parker opens her mouth and quietly says,

"Hi."

"She's a little shy," Eliot tells Irene, and Parker glares at him. She's not shy – she just doesn't like people. Most people. She likes Nate though. And Eliot, and Hardison. But not Sophie, right now, and she doesn't know how she feels about Irene.

Irene though, shrugs. "That's alright – I wasn't much of a talker at that age either. Anyway, I'm out of here. See you tomorrow. Bye Parker." Irene gives Parker another smile, then leaves.

When the door clicks closed, it's just her and Eliot. Parker can hear Nate and Sophie arguing quietly in the corner, and she watches them for a minute or two, until Eliot calls her name again.

"Hungry?" he asks, and Parker shrugs. There wasn't enough time to eat at Hardison's, and the pancakes had been hours ago. "Well I'm making everyone something to chow down on – com'on, you can help me again."

"Be your soup chef?" Parker asks, and Eliot smiles, really smiles, and says,

"Yeah. My soup chef."

Chapter 8

"That was a risky play you made back there," Sophie hissed, anger bubbling just under the surface, so close that he could see it. Nate sat down at the table, sorting through the papers on it. There was nothing of any real interest, but he wanted to look busy.

"I knew you'd pick up on it," he told her absently, his tone very much 'leave me alone', trying to let her know that she didn't have to do this, that they didn't have to do this – they were both there, they both heard what they said, and they both knew what it meant.

Sophie's hand came out and her fingertips trapped the paper he was trying to move – that caught his attention, and he looked up, unimpressed. "Sophie." The laborious tone was exactly how he was feeling at the moment.

"You don't get to shut me out, Nate," she said by way of answer, and he tugged the paper until it came loose.

With a deep breath, he leaned back in the seat. "And I was supposed to let you in on the plan with the mark standing right there?"

"That's not what I'm talking about, and you know it," she snapped back at him, standing up straighter and glaring. A true glare too, not like the sulky ones Parker was known for throwing around sometimes.

And yes, he did know it. He was just tired of it. "Look," he said, spreading his hands out, "What do you want from me?"

"You know what I want," she told him, folding her arms, and Nate looked over at Parker, who was heading into the kitchen with Eliot. Probably to cook – he was starving, he realized; he hadn't eaten all day.

"I don't know what to tell you, Sophie," Nate admitted, because he really didn't. Sure, maybe he said some stuff that he wished he hadn't, and maybe that particular line for the con wasn't the best given the circumstances, but what more did she want from him? Did she think he was somehow going to magically be perfect?

He'd never been perfect, and that had never been the deal.

Sophie looked over into the kitchen as well, and for the first time Nate realized how sad she was, when you were looking between the lines. It didn't last long, the cracks sealing up as quickly as they'd been exposed. Coming around the corner, Sophie leaned in, hands flat on the desk, voice low. "I'm tired of being the bad guy. I'm willing to be, if that's what it takes for you to get it together, but sooner or later, I won't be able to take a hit for you. And when that happens, it's going to be Parker that gets hurt."

Nate followed her line of sight to Parker, who was sitting on top of the counter with the rabbit in her lap, watching Eliot bustle around the kitchen with a look that was close to admiration.

"I'm not trying to make you the bad guy," Nate muttered, but he hadn't missed the way that Parker always seemed to shy away from Sophie, or the way that she glared, or the way that she generally avoided Sophie like the plague.

And he definitely hadn't missed the way that Sophie was always the one who insisted that it was time for Parker to go to bed, or to have a bath, or change into clean clothes, or brush her hair – or that it was time to leave, because Hardison was going to be watching her for a few hours because Nate needed the time to do something else. It was always Sophie who brought up all the stuff that Parker hated, but needed, to do.

Parker had imprinted on Nate, Hardison could live on her level, and Eliot had finally managed to win her over with his stoicism and cooking, but Sophie…

Sophie gave him a patient look, touching his arm gently. "I know you're not trying to make me the bad guy, Nate. But that doesn't make a difference."

The touch was a lie, a promise that had been floating around for years, but never nailed down. "Then don't be – I can take care of it, Sophie. I – " Nate caught himself just before he continued with _don't need your help_, but Sophie reacted as if he'd said it out loud. This time, he knew he put his foot in it.

"Fine," Sophie said coolly, patience evaporating as she snapped back up, lips perused and eyes cold.

Sophie stepped away and Nate stood up. "Sophie," he protested, starting after her, but she turned.

"No, Nate," she said, and he could hear the tears in her voice, the anger that shook it, the frustration that interrupted her normal cadence. The desperation that made it stick in her chest. "I'm done for today."

The click of her heels along the floor was the only noise he could hear – when the door closed, he could see Eliot and Hardison watching at him. Parker had been looking at him the entire time, and he sighed.

God, he needed a drink.

"I'll be right back," he told them. Hardison shook his head and turned back to the screens – Eliot pointed a spatula at him and said,

"Nate – "

"Watch Parker for me," he said, heading out the door before either one of them could protest where he was going. The look on Parker's face only started to fade away after the first shot.

Chapter 9

"Hardison," Parker says, her head lying flat on the arm of the couch, feet on the floor and Bunny in her hands – Hardison jumps a little, surprised, but at least this time he doesn't shriek.

"Yeah, mama?" he asks, finishing off whatever he was typing before looking at her.

Parker crawls halfway onto the couch arm, plopping Bunny down to the couch. "Eliot made, um…" It was called something fancy, and Eliot had explained it to her a couple times, and she still wasn't sure what it was. "Something with vegetables and stuff. He says it's ready and you should come eat with us."

"Is Bunny invited?" Hardison asks, taking Bunny gently and propping him upright – for a second Parker panics, that he's touching Bunny at all, but that soon fades away. "'Cause if Bunny isn't invited, then I ain't coming."

And he nods seriously, but she thinks that he's joking, and she realizes that she doesn't mind that he's holding onto Bunny for her.

Slipping off the couch, she runs over to Eliot, and climbs up onto the breakfast bar. "Eliot," she says, perched on top of it, and when he turns around, he doesn't look too happy with her being there. But he lets her sit on the counters, so she ignores it. "Hardison wants to know if Bunny's invited to dinner," she asks, and Eliot glances at Hardison before nodded,

"Of course he is darlin', why wouldn't he be?"

Nodding, Parker jumps off the counter top and runs back to Hardison, flopping back down over the arm of the couch. "Eliot says that Bunny can come."

"Then it looks like I'm heading to the dining table as well – may I?" he asks, making motions at Bunny, and Parker nods.

Hardison picks up Bunny to cradle him against his chest, and Parker follows him as they make their way to the table.

"What're we having today, man?" Hardison asks after he deposits Bunny on Parker's placemat, and she pulls herself onto the seat, sitting up on her knees.

"Crispy orange beef stir-fry with an orange sesame Szechuan sauce," Eliot says, carrying three plates over and putting the smallest one in front of Parker. It looks shiny, and the broccoli bits don't look that great, but Eliot made it, so Parker wants to give it a try. The banana pancake turned out pretty well, after all.

"Now you're just stringing words together," Hardison complains, but he takes the plate anyways, picking up a fork. He looks pretty hungry, and he starts to eat right away.

"This, you should eat with a fork, Parker," Eliot says, and Parker wonders if he knows that she was trying to figure out a way to eat it without one. She picks up the fork anyway, with a slight frown, and holds it in her fist.

It doesn't take very long to finish eating – it was so good that she even ate the green bits. But Nate still isn't back, and Parker keeps glancing at the door all night, wondering where he went, and when he'll be back.

When Nate does come back, it's well into the night, and Parker's almost fallen asleep on the couch. Hardison's still up playing some kind of game with monsters in it, and she's curled up _just_ close enough so that her hand is brushing his leg.

The door opens and Nate stumbles in, and Parker immediately feels awake. "Nate?" she asks, because he looks unsteady, and she knows that sometimes people who walk like that are drunk.

"Parker?" he asks, his voice raspy. Parker nods and moves to get off the couch, but Hardison stops her, his hand on her arm, and she freezes.

"Hold up bug," he tells her softly, and she sits back on the couch, confused. "Hey Nate," Hardison says, his game paused, standing up so that he can see Nate.

"Hardison!" Nate crosses the room, making his way to the countertop and leaning against it. "Thanks for watching Parker – I got it from here."

"You're drunk Nate," Hardison says, and Parker's never heard him sound like that before.

Nate shakes his head, and Parker shifts to the edge of the couch. "Just a little bit. I'm fine, don't worry about it. Just gonna go lie down for a bit. You coming, Parker?"

Parker glances at Hardison as she slides off the couch – Hardison wants her to stay, but Nate wants her to come with him, and she needs to go with Nate.

"Nate," Hardison starts, but Nate waves him off. And he doesn't look that drunk, Parker thinks, as she watches him go up the stairs. He's a bit wobbly, but she's seen other people be worse, and she's seen Nate be worse.

When Nate's all the way up the stairs, Parker waves at Hardison, feeling guilty that she's going to leave him. But she can hear Nate falling onto the bed, and she is kind of tired, and she wants to go to sleep.

Hardison watches her go, and she pulls off her shoes before she gets onto the bed, pulling the covers over the both of them and making sure that the window's closed this time.

Nate's heavy and immovable when she curls up beside him, and she shifts until she's pressed against his arm. His breathing is deep, and every now and then she can hear him starting to snore. But he's warm, and comforting, and when she closes her eyes, she knows that nothing can hurt her.

Chapter 10

The terrain of the large chain grocery store had changed since Nate had last been there, and right now he was staring at the boxes of cereal, trying to figure out which one Parker would eat. There were about five different kinds that all featured some sort of colorful, overly cheerful cartoon animal on the covers, and the rest of them… looked almost the same.

Sophie hadn't been by the apartment for about a week, other than for business, and Nate was… feeling the absence, for lack of a better word. Hardison still slept on the couch more often than not, and Eliot came and went a few times a day.

The evil eyes and glares ran rampant through the apartment whenever there wasn't a risk of Parker seeing them; they all took care to play nice for her. Not that they were fooling anyone – she was careful to lean toward him when they all occupied the same space, but he knew she was still getting on with Hardison from the giggles he could hear when he was upstairs.

Eliot was making most of the food, but in an effort to show that no, he wasn't completely useless when it came to providing Parker with the things she needed, Nate had taken it upon himself to make a trip to the grocery store with her.

Parker had disappeared once again though, and as he looked absently up and down the aisle for her, he figured that she would be equally happy with anything that he gave to her. Throwing a box of cereal with some kind of bird on it into the cart, Nate wheeled it around the corner, now on the hunt for –

Maggie.

"Nate?" she asked, a soft smile coming to her face as they stopped to look at one another. It was a sad smile, nostalgic, and he figured that it had a lot to do with his partially disheveled appearance. That and the fact that he looked like a deer caught in headlights. At least he had some fresh pants on.

Flashes of their last meeting ran through his head, playing out the memories like he was watching them on television: the kiss, the bomb, the parting words that still rang bitterly in his head – peace in understanding they had, but he wasn't sure her opinion of him had changed at all.

And that was before Parker. Parker, who -

"Nate!"

Parker whipped around the corner of the adjacent aisle and made a beeline for the space between the cart and Nate's legs – the cart lurched forward and bumped Maggie in the hip, and a second later, a man with a store apron came running around the same corner.

For a moment he looked between Nate and Maggie, before zeroing in on Parker, who shifted just a little to get further behind Nate.

"Sir!" he huffed, and Nate looked down at Parker, who was clearly hiding. Obviously the man had caught her doing something, but what, he didn't know. If he had to, he could make a fairly educated guess... "Sir, is that your daughter?" the man demanded, and Parker's grip tightened on his pants – Nate could feel Maggie staring at him, utterly confused.

"Ugh, y- uh yeah," Nate stuttered, Parker winning out over any potential awkwardness that could come out of it. Would come out of it.

"Nate?" Maggie asked with a hushed tone, bewildered, and Nate put his hand down on Parker's shoulder, trying to get the situation under control.

"Sir, your daughter was trying to steal store merchandise," the worker said, stepping forward. It wasn't an overly aggressive move, but it made Parker flinch, and Nate tried to laugh it off,

"No, no, you must be mistaken – "

Of course, he was pretty sure that's exactly what had happened. He was loathed to see what throwing Parker under the bus like that would do to their relationship though.

"Unfortunately, sir, I saw her putting things into her coat!"

Parker shrunk back more at that, and Nate realized that she probably still had whatever it was, in her pockets.

Holding up a finger to the man, and very specifically not looking at Maggie, he crouched down, and pulled Parker out from behind him. "Parker, did you take something from the store?"

Parker glanced at the man in the apron, and then at Nate, and gave the tiniest of nods.

Sighing, Nate put out his hand, and Parker reluctantly pulled a SD card, a small USB drive, and a pocketknife from her pocket. "Parker," Nate said, and she shied away from the disappointment in his voice, "We talked about this."

"I know," she muttered, leaning back against the shelf, and Nate could only shake his head. He stood, and turned to the man, handing the items over.

"I'm sorry about that," he said, "I'll make sure it doesn't happen again. Parker?" he asked, and Parker, who had been staring at Maggie, snapped her eyes back at him. "What do you say?" he asked, and they all stared at her expectantly.

It took him a moment to realize that she really had no idea what she was supposed to say. Her face remained blank as she stared at him, all panic and fear and desperation. "Tell the man you're sorry," Nate prompted, and Parker, looking anything but, muttered,

"Sorry."

"Sir," the man said, but Nate waved him off,

"We're going. Sorry, again. Parker," he said, holding out his hand and she looked at it for a second before coming over and taking it meekly. "Maggie," he said, nodding his head at her, and her mouth gapped – she was lost, but Nate had less than no interest in trying to explain to her exactly what she was seeing.

They made it out of the store and to the car before Maggie caught up with them – Parker had opened the door and was about to climb in when Maggie called out to him.

"Nate! Wait!"

Parker paused, looking back, and Nate touched her arm gently. "Get in the car," he told her, and after what happened in the store, he wasn't surprised when she did so without arguing.

"Maggie, I can explain," Nate said quietly as he turned, closing the door. It wasn't much of a buffer, but hopefully it would muffle some of the conversation.

"Nate, what…?" she trailed off helplessly, gesturing to Parker, looking… pained. And confused. And concerned. "Your daughter?"

"Legally, yes. She's not – "

"Legally?" Maggie asked, and he was sure that she was thinking something along the lines of 'for a con'.

"Not what you think," he shook his head. "She followed me home from New York, and – "

"New York?!" Maggie asked, the worry ramping up another couple notches.

"She tried to pick my pocket, and I caught her, and somehow she crawled into my car and by the time I noticed – "

"You kidnapped a child from New York?" Maggie's voice was getting shrill, and it was the exact same question that Sophie had asked, initially. Why did the women in his life always jump to that conclusion? At least Irene didn't give him flak.

Nate stepped between the Maggie and the car, keeping his voice even and low so Parker might not overhear. "Not kidnapped. She was living on the streets. She needed someone."

"Nate." The pain was back, along with sadness, and he knew what was going through her head – the exact same thing that Sophie couldn't stop nagging him about. Sophie wasn't going to be coming back any time soon, and he certainly didn't need a replacement for her.

"Maggie – I've got it under control, all right? I know what I'm doing." It wasn't just that Parker needed him, it was that he needed her too, and what was wrong with that? Why did everyone try and find something wrong with that? "It's fine."

Before she could say anything else, he jumped into the car, started it, and drove away.

Chapter 11

Parker doesn't say anything when Nate gets back into the car – he'd been talking with that strange lady, and Parker had tried to listen to what they said, but they sounded weird through the car door. All that she could really pick up was that he didn't sound very happy, and that the lady was upset, or something.

When he got back into the car, he was quiet, and so Parker stayed quiet too. She didn't mean to get caught by that guy with the green apron, but the pocketknife had been by the front of the store, and she must've missed him when she looked around to see if anyone was watching.

Nate isn't very happy with her, but at least he didn't get mad at her in the store. When they got back to the apartment though… They almost there when he says,

"Parker, you understand that what I do, and what you just did – they're different. You get that, right?"

For the first time, she looks up at him, frowning. How was it different?

"I steal stuff to help people," he tells her, as if she'd asked him. "I run cons so that I can help people who can't help themselves. Me, Hardison, Eliot, Sophie – we don't steal because we want stuff. You can understand that, right?"

"But I was helping," she insists, "Just like you do."

Nate glances away from the road and down at her, "What do you mean?"

Parker looks at the glove compartment door, wondering if she should tell him or not. When he says her name again, it's with less patience, and she pulls her legs up on the seat, hugging them. "I was helping Hardison and Eliot," she mutters.

"They asked you to steal that stuff for them?" he asks, and he sounds surprised.

Parker shakes her head, her chin resting on her knees. "No. Hardison said he needed more storage sticks, and Eliot…"

"Eliot?" Nate asks, and Parker doesn't want to say anything, because you weren't supposed to say anything about stuff like that. Not supposed to ask about the bruises, and not supposed to talk about the bruises. If Nate doesn't know about Eliot's bruises, she doesn't want to be the one to tell him. "What about Eliot, Parker," Nate asks, and he's sounding impatient again, and Parker thinks that Nate being happy is better than Eliot being upset because she told about his bruises.

"Eliot has bruises," she tells him softly, looking away from him and watching the window. "I thought… I didn't want him to be hurt again."

"So you got a him a knife…" Parker risks a glance at Nate, but she can't tell what he thinks. He doesn't look surprised, and he looks like he believes her. She can't tell if it's good or bad though.

"He has bruises," she says again, softly, hoping that Nate understands – Nate hasn't given her any bruises yet, but she's gotten them before, and if she were big like Eliot, maybe having a knife would've helped.

Nate gives her a look she doesn't really understand, and takes one hand off the wheel to reach over and hold hers. His grip isn't firm, or painful, so she guesses that maybe he thinks it's okay.

"Don't worry about Eliot, Parker," Nate says, and he squeezes her hand just a little. "It's not like that. And Hardison can get his own gear – you don't need to get it for him. Leave the stealing to us. You don't need to be stealing anything right now."

"Okay," Parker says quietly, and Nate lets go of her hand because they're pulling into the parking spot.

Hardison is on the couch when they get back, and Parker slips through the door and heads there.

"Didn't find anything you liked?" Hardison asks, when he sees that Nate has nothing from the store, and Parker redirects herself to the stairs. If Nate tells Hardison, and Hardison's disappointed with her, then she doesn't want to spend the rest of the night on the couch with him. At some point though, she'll have to sneak past him and get Bunny back.

Nate shrugs, taking off his coat. "They tried to charge me double for a box of cereal that was clearly on sale – words were said, and we left."

Parker starts moving to the couch again, wondering why Nate lied for her. But he didn't mention the lady either, so maybe it was another secret that they were going to have?

Hardison doesn't look very impressed, but he grins when he looks at Parker, and waves her over. "I've been keeping your spot warm," he tells her, shifting, and when she gets to the couch, Bunny's right where she left him, nestled between the back and the arm of the couch.

Parker crawls onto the couch, and stands up on it to see what Nate's doing. "I'm just going upstairs," he tells her when he sees her looking, "I'll be down for dinner."

Nate doesn't come down for dinner though, and when Hardison falls asleep on the couch that night, and Parker makes her way upstairs. Nate's slumped against the headboard, half sitting in the bed, a bottle in one hand and a picture frame in the other.

Carefully, Parker takes the bottle and puts it on the bedside table – the picture frame she removes from his hands slowly, watching to make sure that she didn't wake him. Before she puts it away, she takes a look at it – it's a hand drawn picture, and it's not very good, and it's got Daddy on it above a stick person, and two other stick people.

That lady that they saw in the store… but there's a whole bunch of ladies that Nate must know, like Irene, and so maybe it doesn't mean anything? The picture frame goes back into his bedside table where it always goes, and Parker changes into her bunny pajama's before she crawls into bed.

It's late, and she's tried, and Nate's already sleeping soundly, and when she closes her eyes, she's already sleeping.

Chapter 12

For once, Nate woke up before Parker did. He wasn't quite sure what woke him, but when he opened his eyes, he could feel the warmth from her small body radiating against his arm, and when he turned to look at her, he noticed that they were both covered with the blankets. She'd pulled them all around her, into something of a nest, and he smiled at the sight.

Frowning, he looked around for the picture frame that he distinctly remembered falling asleep with – he's old, but he's not senile, and he wasn't hung over. The memory of the picture was clear in his mind, and he threw off the blankets in a building panic.

The first place he checked was the bedside drawer – and there it was, the one tangible thing he could still remember Sam by. The framed picture rested on the bottom of the drawer, and he looked over at Parker. She must have put it there last night – a brief swing of guilt flared up, and he shook his head to get rid of it.

When he got out of the shower, she'd curled herself around Bunny, her breath light and even. He didn't know when she'd gotten to sleep last night, but he was willing to bet it wasn't early.

Downstairs, Eliot was already bustling around the kitchen preparing things, and he looked up in surprise when he heard Nate coming. They stared at one another for a few moments; Nate was the first one to break the silence,

"You're here early," he said, eyeing the clock – it was a quarter past seven, and Hardison was still fast asleep on the couch.

Eliot threw him the stink eye. "Always here by now," he said in a low growl, looking up the stairs.

"Still sleeping," Nate offered, knowing he was looking for Parker. Which made him question – was Parker always up this early? He knew she was always up, but this early?

There seemed to be a complicated array of things going on in the kitchen and Nate sat down at the breakfast bar to watch. It took Eliot a few minutes, but eventually he turned back at Nate and glared. "Stop with the lookin'," he said, annoyed.

Nate ignored him, instead nodding at the bruise that was peeking out from under his shirt. It was already starting to fade, but Nate didn't doubt that it was the one Parker had seen.

"Parker thinks you're getting hurt," he said softly, in case she decided now was a good time to wake up and come down the stairs.

Eliot looked down at the bruise peeking out and a look of recognition passed across his face. "I do get hurt," he said gruffly, but there was a touch of concern to it.

"Not like that," Nate clarified, and he waiting a second until Eliot realized what he was trying to say.

"Why would she think – ?"

Nate gave him a look, because Eliot should know better. "Maybe you should explain to her that it's not like that?" he suggested, and Eliot nodded.

"I thought she was just… asking questions, before," he explained, and Nate didn't know when he was talking about, but he wasn't surprised. He could see how it happened: Eliot giving vague answers to Parker's questions, being evasive with the truth. That's why she shoplifted the pocketknife earlier, thinking that Eliot was being abused.

"What questions?" Hardison asked, head poking out half asleep from behind the couch. He looked around the room, looking for Parker, and Nate pointed up the stairs. He really needed to start getting up earlier.

"Parker thinks that – " Eliot stopped abruptly, and Nate followed his look up the stairs –sure enough, there was Parker, her hair in a rumpled mess, still in her pajama's, holding the rabbit tightly against her chest.

She knew that they were talking about her and it was making her hover on the stairs, one hand on the railing, unsure if she could come down or not.

"Come down, Parker," Nate said, and she moved down the stairs cautiously, eyeing the three of them.

"Weren't talking about nothing bad, darlin'," Eliot smiled, and Nate realized how strange the tone of voice Eliot was using was. Completely different from what he was used to hearing, especially after these past few weeks of constant aggression; it was almost like the voice Eliot used for cons, except … honest.

Parker didn't answer, just moved silently across the room. Whether or not she was trying to be neutral, or whether she was worried that she'd be in trouble from yesterday, Nate wasn't sure. Or maybe she was still sleepy.

"Come sit up here, and you can supervise the batter," Eliot offered, and Parker kept her eye on Nate as she moved into the kitchen, climbing up to the countertop. "Parker helps me make breakfast in the mornings," Eliot explained, giving Nate a look that suggested that he shouldn't need to explain this stuff.

Hardison had managed to drag himself off of the couch, and he took the seat beside Nate before slumping over his arms. "Whatcha makin' today?" he asked, yawning loudly after the question.

"Pancakes," Eliot said, nodding at Parker, who started up the mixer. It wasn't too loud, and Nate realized that he was feeling a little light headed.

"Banana?" Parker asked, and Eliot nodded,

"And strawberry for Hardison."

"I loves me some strawberry," Hardison grinned, and Nate almost felt out of place in the middle of their banter, watching as they went through routine motions. Eliot had a string of instruction that he gave Parker, and she filled in whenever she remembered the next step.

Hardison went to get them all glasses for juice, gently nudging Parker's shoulder out of the way when he reached for them. Parker didn't flinch at the touch, and Nate realized with a pang that this was what he'd been missing every morning, that he used to be able to do this. He sat back and watched, smiling reassuringly at Parker whenever she glanced over at him nervously.

The pancakes were slowly starting to pile up on the serving plate, and as Eliot poured one of the last few, he nodded at Parker. "Time to go get changed, sweetie," he told her, and Parker pouted, but pushed herself off the counter nonetheless and, after glancing quickly at Nate, headed up the stairs.

"You guys are good," Nate commented after she'd disappeared off the stairs, and Eliot threw him a contemptuous glare, but didn't answer.

"Someone's gotta be," Hardison muttered, almost under his breath, and Nate would take offense to that but…

Parker's life wasn't a con, and every time that he thought he has a handle on it, it spiraled a little further out of his control. And how was he supposed to deal with that? Before he could form any kind of response he heard Parker scrapping the chair at the table as she pushed it back. Nate relocated to the dining table and Parker crawled onto her chair, watching him carefully.

Eliot set down the pancakes, piling two onto her plate; instead of eating she stared at Nate, waiting for something. "These smell delicious, don't they?" Nate asked, but it was rhetorical – she wanted him to do or say something, but he wasn't really sure what it was. Maybe she just needed a sign to let her know that everything was okay?

Nodding, Parker ripped a piece of pancake off with her hands, swallowing it carefully. "Good?" Nate asked, smiling tightly as he took his own – Hardison was already done his first one, and Eliot was filling up her glass.

"Want some?" Parker asked, and Nate shook his head,

"I've got my own right here. You eat those ones up."

"Here you go," Eliot said, placing the glass down on the table. To his credit, when he looked at Nate this time, he didn't glare.

Cautiously, Parker reached out and tore a piece of Nate's pancake off his plate – Nate smiled. Old habits died hard, it would seem, and somehow the familiar act of sharing the food on Nate's plate made her loosen up.

"Eliot can make anything," she told Nate, as if any of them were unaware of it. And maybe she was just trying to share her knowledge and insight with him, so that he would be able to benefit from it too. "Right Eliot?"

Eliot nodded, smiling out of the corner of his mouth. "I'm not making cinnamon buns for desert again – nice try."

Parker's face fell slightly, and Nate had to wonder if he'd just seen the beginnings of a con. It wouldn't be surprising, given that she was hanging around the bunch of them.

"Ice cream?" she tried, glancing at Nate, and Eliot shook his head,

"We'll cut up some fruit today – got some fresh watermelon and oranges from the market; they're going to be delicious." It wasn't the answer she'd been looking for, but she seemed resigned to it, finishing up the rest of her pancakes happily.

After the meal, Hardison, uninterested in helping make 'healthy' dessert, wandered over to the computers, and started playing around with some program or another.

Parker distracted by Eliot, Nate leaned down next to Hardison, "Listen, Hardison," he started, pausing for a second when Hardison glared up at him. It seemed a little unnecessary, but he brushed it off. "Maggie's in town – can you do that thing you do, and see why?"

"That thing I do?" Hardison asked, offended, and Nate started wondering if this was going to be a thing.

But he kept his gaze expectant and firm, and Hardison shook his head, grumbling. "Never appreciatin' what I do," he muttered under his breath, and after a second, he looked up at Nate and snapped, "Don't need you hovering too. Come back in an hour or two and I'll let you know how it goes."

Nate held his hands up in an attempt to pacify Hardison, stepping away and leaving him to his own devices. That done, he contemplated hitting the bar - or… "Parker," he called, and she looked over from where she was sitting on the countertop. "Want to come run an errand with me?" he asked, and she nodded eagerly. "Go grab your coat," he told her, and she ran upstairs with the rabbit, coming back without him, a coat in her arms instead.

Eliot watched him curiously as they left, Parker in hand. Neither of the two guys said anything.

Chapter 13

They'd been driving around for a while now – Parker isn't sure where Nate is going, but he'd asked her if she wanted to come along, and she wasn't lying when she said that she would. Even if it was just driving around, it was her, and it was Nate, and they were spending time together, and she really liked spending time with him that was just them.

When Parker glances out the window though, she notices a familiar funny looking tree stump outside a yellow building – they'd passed it a couple of times, and she looks over at Nate, curious.

Nate pulls over and parks, turning the engine off and looking out the window thoughtfully. For a few minutes it's quiet, until she shifts in the seat. His staring makes her nervous, and they aren't going anywhere, and she doesn't know what to think.

Things had been going well, hadn't they? Desperately, Parker looks out the window to try and see if there's any sign of a foster home, or an orphanage around. Panicked, she thinks of Bunny, left all alone in Nate's apartment. What would she do if Nate left her here?

The panic falls a little when she realizes that she still has the identity card that Hardison made for her, when Nate first took her home. It had Nate's name on it, and it had Nate's address, and phone number, so even if he did leave her here, she would be able to make her way back to get Bunny.

The panic is gone, but there's still an achy feeling to her stomach, and she looks up at Nate and swallows. If he's thinking about it, she doesn't want to make him decide by saying anything, but she has to know.

"Nate?" she asks quietly, and he seems to hear it because he snaps his head back at her.

"Hmm?" he asks, looking like he still isn't really listening, and Parker takes a breath before asking,

"Where are we?" and hopes that her voice doesn't sound too wobbly.

Nate looks around confused, and then says, "Oh!" He shakes his head, and shifts in his seat to look at her. "That building there," he says, pointing across the street, and Parker sits up a little straighter so she can see it clearly, "That's where Sophie lives."

Parker frowns, confused. "Sophie?" she asks, and she doesn't really expect an answer, but Nate gives her one.

"Yeah – there's a new job I was thinking of picking up and… well, Sophie's part of the team."

It's not a bad answer, but Parker also doesn't think it's a very good one. "Why Sophie?" she asks, trying not to let him know that she doesn't like Sophie at all, and Nate looks surprised.

"Parker," he says, confused, but not at all sounding mad, "You don't like Sophie, do you?"

Parker shrugs and moves her eyes to look at the glove compartment – she doesn't want to tell Nate that she doesn't like one of his friends. Hardison had said that he wouldn't like it very much, and she was sure that Hardison hadn't been lying.

It seems like Nate knows what she really wants to say though, because he suddenly looks sad, and leans back against the door. "You really don't, do you?" he says quietly, but Parker doesn't answer, because it sounds like he's just saying it to himself.

Glancing at the house again, Nate sighs heavily, and unclips his seatbelt. "Come on," he tells her, and Parker stares at him, confused. "We're going to go say hi to Sophie," he explains, and Parker unbuckles her seatbelt, even though she doesn't want to.

Nate takes her hand as they cross the street, and he doesn't let go. When he rings the doorbell, Parker can hear it through the door, and she looks at the lock curiously. It looks different than other locks, special for some reason, and suddenly it's being pulled away, and when she looks up, she can see Sophie.

"Nate! It's ten in the morning?" Sophie says, and her voice is high, and she doesn't sound very happy, and Parker slides a little further behind Nate. Sophie seems to notice her move, because she suddenly says, "Oh! Hi there, Parker," and she sounds nice, which is really confusing.

Sophie's wearing a nightie like they tried to make Parker wear in the orphanage, and she has a light robe over it.

"Going to let us in?" Nate asks, and Parker looks behind them at the street, because she doesn't really want to be let in.

Sophie doesn't sound very happy when she answers Nate. "Alright, fine then."

Nate tugs on her hand, and Parker has to go into the house with him. The first thing she notices is that it smells really nice, like perfume or something, and the second thing she notices is that it looks really fancy. Like anything she touched could be really expensive.

"Have you two eaten, at least?" Sophie asks, sounding tired, and Nate nods,

"Eliot made breakfast."

"Of course he did," Sophie says, and Parker wonders why she's here. Nate had asked her to come along, but he hadn't said where, or why, but now she's curious. "Well, come on in and have some tea, then."

"Coffee," Nate says, and Sophie gives him a look. Nate still has Parker's hand, so she moves with them as they move into Sophie's kitchen. Nate sits down at a table in the corner while Sophie moves around the kitchen, putting on the water and pulling out cups.

Finally, Nate lets go of her hand, and instead of sitting down, she wanders, looking up at the shelves and the things that are up there. Through a fancy looking mirror she can see Sophie watching her, and she quickly turns around.

"Go on," Sophie says, smiling softly at her, "Take a look at whatever you'd like."

Uncomfortable, and confused about why Sophie's being so nice, Parker moves into the other room.

"I saw Maggie yesterday," Nate says, and that's the last thing Parker hears.

Chapter 14

"I saw Maggie yesterday," Nate said, tapping his fingers on the glass of the table, and noting how Sophie turned away, immediately busying herself with the kettle. He wasn't one hundred percent sure that Maggie was here on Sophie's account, but he had a feeling that it could be a reason. "Yeah, right there, at the store?"

Sophie was too good a grifter to give herself away with an unconscious movement like deflecting a question, but she was good enough to play mind games. Make him think that she was guilty because he knew that she wouldn't betray it like that.

But when she turned around to answer him, she looked unimpressed. "And you think that I gave Maggie a ring, got her to fly all the way down to Boston, just so I could orchestrate a meeting between you two at the grocers?"

Nate shrugged, leaning back, and she rolled her eyes. "You're mad if you think that's the case," she told him with a cold laugh. There was nothing in her body language that suggested otherwise – her tone didn't seem to be hitting the false pitch, and she was speaking as if candidly…

Maybe he really was just going crazy. "I was with Parker," he told her, and that made her pause.

"Really," she said after a moment, interested, keen on him to elaborate. She poured out the two cups, and walked over while he said,

"Who caught the manager's attention, because she'd been shoplifting a pocketknife and some USB sticks…"

Sophie set the cup on the table, and then glanced through the doorway – presumably, to see if Parker was there.

"Anything valuable lying around?" Nate asked, and Sophie gave him a look,

"Of course there is. It's nothing I think she would take, though." Ah. So she was just making sure that Parker wasn't around to overhear the conversation. "A pocketknife?"

Nate nodded, and Sophie sat down; Nate could see her thinking, trying to understand why. "It was for Eliot," Nate told her, helping her out just a little, but that only made her look more confused. "She saw a few of his bruises. Bruises usually mean only one thing to a kid like Parker."

Sophie put the pieces together then, and leaned her head forward, into her hand. "That's unreal," she said breathily, shaking her head.

Nate nodded. Eliot would probably get around to explaining things to Parker pretty soon – or at least, that's what Nate hoped. A silence settled between them, oddly comfortable, and Sophie looked up at Nate, moving her hand down to rest her head on her palm.

_Now what?_ she asked, and Nate didn't have the answer to that. He didn't really know why he was here, only that he found himself parked across the street, and knew that Parker had a problem with Sophie. And if he was honest with himself, he wasn't surprised – Sophie hadn't been the source of anything that Parker liked, other than maybe her cartoon rabbit pajamas.

Nate opened his mouth to answer, but there was a loud crash from somewhere upstairs, and Sophie jumped, almost spilling her tea. "Parker," she breathed, concerned, but Nate was already up and through the door, heading toward the noise.

"Parker?" he called out. He didn't hear an answer, but he had an idea about where it had come from, and when he opened the door to Sophie's room, he found Parker standing by the bed, a lamp lying on the ground beside her, shattered. Parker stood frozen by the bed, staring up at Nate with wide eyes.

Parker could wander around unnoticed on the worst of days – there was no scenario where she would have accidently stumbled and knocked the lamp over. "Parker," Nate said, his tone inviting her to explain exactly what had happened.

"Oh my." Sophie had finally arrived, frowning at the shattered lamp, her hand over her chest.

Parker stayed where she was, watching the both of them with wide, fearful, expectant eyes.

Finally Nate moved, coming a little closer – Parker flinched and stepped back, the sound of glass crunching under her foot. "Don't," he said, his hands coming up – he didn't want to hurt her, and he wanted to show her that he didn't want to hurt her. Despite the fear in her eyes she stopped moving, staying still as Nate lifted her up and away from the glass.

But she didn't slump into his body like she usually did, this time remaining straight and rigid.

Sophie looked between them, more trepidation in her face than Nate would've thought she could have, and decided she wanted out. "I'll go fetch the hoover," she said, clearly using it as a reason to leave, and heading out the door.

Putting Parker down on the floor, safely away from the glass, Nate took a seat on the foot of the bed facing her, and searched her face, looking for answers. "Why, Parker?" he asked, and as she looked at the vase. For a moment she looked contrite, but it disappeared with a glimmer of an idea, and when she opened her mouth, he held up a hand. "And don't lie to me," he warned, "I'm going to know."

The glimmer faded, and she went back to looking conflicted, staring at the floor. "Parker," he said again, feeling a little more exasperated, and she looked away. "Parker," he repeated one more time, this time clearly impatient, and she squirmed as the tension in her body raised another notch.

But this time she answered, and she sounded frustrated with herself. "I knocked it over," she told him in a quiet tone, confessing, but not apologetic.

"Why?" he asked, having reached that conclusion himself a while ago, and she shrugged. "That's not going to work this time," he warned her, and he could see that her eyes were getting redder, glossier.

Realizing that he wouldn't get anything more out of her, he sighed. Maybe she didn't completely understand why she did it? Nate could understand if she'd seen the lamp, seen it as something pretty that belonged to Sophie, and had wanted to wreck it. Could see how she might want to see and hear it shatter, wanted to take away something that belonged to Sophie.

Nate could understand if Parker was acting out in frustration – the circles under her eyes suggested that she wasn't well rested, and he didn't expect that the impulse had been rational. In fact, Nate was pretty sure that the only thing that had been keeping Parker from acting like a wild, feral animal was the fear that he might abandon her. That she might act out in such a way that he would find impermissible. And it wasn't so unreasonable to think that Sophie had finally pushed her over the edge.

"Look, Parker," he said, trying to reason with her, "I get that you don't like Sophie very much right now. But that's not an excuse for breaking her things."

Parker remained silent, and Nate realized that he couldn't just let this go. It couldn't be one of those things where Parker started crying, and Nate's heart broke, and he gave in and comforted her. This was one of those things where Parker had acted on her anger, and broken one of Sophie's things as a result.

Sophie chose this moment to reappear at the doorway, though she didn't come in right away.

"Here's what we're going to do," Nate said, nodding at Sophie, and Parker took a look behind her, a sliver of fear reappearing in her eyes. "You're going to apologize to Sophie for breaking her lamp. We'll help her clean up, and then we're all heading back to the apartment."

Parker was watching Sophie, and Sophie made eyes at him – eyes that suggested an apology wasn't going to be enough. _Consequences_, Sophie was telling him, and he knew that she was right. Parker needed boundaries and structure, and he needed to give them to her. "Well?" he said, ignoring her look, and Parker muttered,

"Sorry," almost under her breath.

"Parker," Nate chided, and for a second she looked like she was going to cry, but then she folded her arms and said,

"I'm sorry for breaking the lamp," in an aggressive tone that more or less suggested she wasn't.

Sophie stepped in with the vacuum, and gave her a smile. "I'm sure you didn't mean to," she said, and Nate hoped Parker didn't see the lie. Nonetheless, after some prodding, Parker joined Sophie in cleaning up the mess. Nate watched from the bed, watched the tension in Parker's body; she was on edge, tightly strung, and desperately avoided turning her back. Just waiting for the other shoe to drop.

The weirdest thing about it though, was the looks that she kept shooting Sophie – concerned, confused, and a little awed.

Chapter 15

After they finish cleaning up the mess in the bedroom, Nate invites Sophie to come back to the apartment with them. Parker doesn't say anything about it, because she's trying to be good, but that doesn't mean that she has to like it.

Nate doesn't say anything while they wait for Sophie to get dressed, and Parker stays sitting on the couch, her arms curled around her legs, making sure she doesn't touch anything. When they leave the house, Nate holds her hand as they cross the street, and opens the car door for her. The whole ride back to the apartment is quiet – even Sophie isn't saying anything.

Parker stares out the window to keep herself from looking at Sophie, and she stays quiet, hoping that Nate won't stay mad at her for long. She'd broken the lamp, but it hadn't been on purpose like he thought. It was just that the headboard of the bed had looked weird, and when she took a closer look, there'd been a wooden board that moved away when you touched it right, and she'd found a folded piece of paper in it. It was folded in half, and it said things on it, but none of the words really look familiar, and other than one that looked like a name. She'd been trying to make the board go back when it suddenly gave way, and she'd kicked out at the lamp by accident.

So it wasn't really what she meant to do, but Nate thought it was, and when she tried to tell him about the panel, he wouldn't let her say anything. But Sophie keeps looking into the mirror on the side of the car, right back at her, and Parker tries she doesn't notice.

Eliot's still in the kitchen when they get back to the apartment, and it looks like he never left. Hardison's still on the couch, looking at the television screens intently. Sophie goes in first, and then Nate, and Parker stays by the door, quiet, waiting for Nate to… do something. She isn't sure if he's still upset with her, and she isn't really sure what'll happen if he is.

Sophie takes her shoes off and goes all the way into the apartment, heading into the kitchen and asking Eliot for coffee. Hardison smiles at her for a second before he turns back to his computers, and the next time she looks at Nate, he's watching her, and she suddenly feels like she's done something even more bad.

"Parker, upstairs?" Even though it sounds like a question, Parker knows it isn't – Nate doesn't sound really angry, but then again, he always tries to be nice to Hardison and Eliot when she's around. Maybe he was just trying to be nice to her now, and was leaving all the angry stuff for upstairs?

Even though Parker doesn't want to go, she still follows him up the stairs, trying to keep up while staying a few steps behind him.

He has to be mad, doesn't he?

When they get to the top, she slips past him and runs up to the bed, jumping on it and grabbing Bunny from where she'd put him, up on the pillows. The blankets are all over the place on the bed, but she doesn't try to hide under them or anything. If Nate was going to be mad, then he was going to be mad, but at least she has Bunny.

As Nate comes closer to the bed, she can't help but curl up a little tighter around Bunny – it always hurt when she made people mad; no one had hurt her for such a long time though, and she was scared.

Nate sits on the edge of the bed and looks at her. And looks. And something changes in his eyes, so finally, when she's starting to wonder if hiding under the bed is still something she can do, he says in his soft, quiet, nice voice, "I'm not going to hurt you, Parker."

There's still a part of Parker that doesn't believe him. She doesn't do anything, doesn't move at all. So when he says, "Come sit by me for a second," she doesn't move right away.

But this is Nate, and Parker can remember the first time that she saw him, actually saw him, her wrist in his huge hand, his wallet hanging between her fingers. And she remembers the surprise that she felt when he let go of her wrist, after taking his wallet back, and the soft smile he gave her. The way his eyes were so warm, even though she'd been stealing his stuff. The hope she felt in the hotel room after she fell asleep in his car he didn't hit her, or throw her out, or make her do stuff she didn't want to do.

Nate's still looking at her, waiting, and she inches her way bit by bit until she's sitting beside him, her legs hanging off the edge of the bed like his, but not touching the ground, unlike his. Bunny is pressed against her chest, his soft ear brushing under her chin, reassuring, and she looks down at the ground, notices how big Nate's feet are next to her little swinging ones, and waits for him to say something.

The first thing he does though, is lean back, his arm almost touching her back as he rests back against them. "We need to fix this thing between you and Sophie," he says, and Parker frowns, because that's not what she wants to hear. She doesn't want to fix anything; she just wants Sophie to stop being so mean and in the way all the time.

But he keeps talking, "Breaking her things is not okay. You don't have to be best friends, but you do need to get along with her. So, tomorrow, you're going to spend the whole day with Sophie, all right? And you're going to be nice, and try to get along with her."

Parker waits for more, but Nate doesn't say anything else, and it's not at all what she wants to be doing, but at least it's better than Nate hurting her? Unless that part comes after. She can't help but ask, "Do I have to?" softly, her face falling a little into Bunny's head.

"Yes," Nate says, and he doesn't sound mad, but she knows he won't change his mind about it.

"Can you come?" is her next question, and she glances up at him hopefully, only to see him shaking his head,

"You and Sophie, Parker – and I don't want you giving her any trouble, got it? No stealing stuff, and no making things difficult for her."

Parker frowns, but it doesn't sound too hard. It doesn't sound fun, but it doesn't sound impossible. When she doesn't say anything, Nate asks her if she understands, and she mutters that she does. With a sigh, Nate shifts, his arm disappearing from behind her back, and she tenses, waiting.

Now's the part where Nate hurts her, if he wants to. She's done something bad – it doesn't matter that she didn't mean to. She'd still broken Sophie's lamp. And she'd gotten hurt for a lot less, before.

But Nate just gets up off the bed and turns around so he's facing her – she glances up at him, worried, and he looks a little sad. Then he crouches down so that he's a little lower then her, and she can't help but flinch when he puts a hand on her knee.

"No more breaking stuff, okay?" he says, and Parker nods slowly, careful not to move. And he squeezes her knee, but it doesn't hurt – it's firm, but he smiles when he does it, and Parker thinks that this is another thing that means something that she doesn't understand.

Nate lets go of her knee and stands up, stepping a little closer and putting a hand on her back, "Lets go back downstairs – and remember what we talked about."

Parker nods, sliding off the bed with the gentle encouragement from Nate's hand, heading down the stairs first. The first thing she sees is Eliot's eyes, staring at her with a strange look that she's seen before; when she rounds the corner, he's looking the other way.

Hardison calls Nate over to the couch, and Parker stays at the foot of the stairs, looking between Hardison, who's talking seriously to Nate, to Eliot, who has Sophie right by him.

"How about some of that dessert you missed out on?" Eliot asks, and he's looking at her again, and Parker takes Bunny and heads to the breakfast bar, climbing up on the stool and watching Sophie.

Sophie stays by the fridge, moving only when Eliot goes to open it. He pulls out a bowl piled with fruit, and grabs a fork before putting both in front of her. "Eat up darling," he tells her, and she glances at his arms to see how his bruises are, but they're all covered up.

"Mind if I sit with you?" Sophie asks, and Parker frowns – Sophie doesn't move to join her though, even though it sounded like she was going to. So Parker shrugs, and looks over at Nate, who's watching them.

"Okay," Parker mutters, remembering his words to try and get along, and she can feel Eliot watching her.

Sophie sits down in the chair beside her, and Parker does her best not to squirm away, though she can't keep from moving Bunny onto the other side of the bowl, further away from Sophie.

When she looks up at Eliot, he doesn't look happy, and she can feel herself feeling _something_. Eliot doesn't say anything, just makes another bowl of fruit and gives it to Sophie.

Parker eats her bowl quietly, and Sophie doesn't ask any questions, which is nice– but Nate's still talking to Hardison about the lady from before, Maggie, and Eliot's busy with something else, and for some reason, she still feels like she's doing something wrong.

Chapter 16

"What've you got?" Nate asked, leaning down over the couch and looking up at the screens expectantly. But the patent Hardison-slideshow didn't appear, and after a second he looked over to see exactly why that was.

Hardison was looking at him with clear disapproval, and Nate unclasped his hands, "What uh, what's going on here?" Clearly, Hardison's resentment was leaking into his work, but Nate really hadn't been expecting more than just a cold stare.

"First of all," Hardison started, indignant and expectant all at the same time, "I don't just go around snooping into the personal lives of our friends. And Maggie, having worked with us, happens to fall right into that category."

"You're a hacker, Hardison," Nate interrupted, trying hard not to sound too impatient. "And you work for me – so what did you find?"

Maybe it wasn't the best thing to say, because a look of cold fury passed across Hardison's face. "I ain't no lapdog," he started, and as his grammar slipped, and his pitch rose, Nate knew that he'd said something offensive. "I might work for you, but this ain't part of a job. This man, this is a favor I did you. A solid. An' if you think for one second that – "

This could go on for hours if you let it, and right now, Nate didn't have the patience for it. "Hardison, stop," he said firmly, and Hardison stopped talking, but he didn't look any happier. "Just let me know what you found?" There was more ask and less order in his voice, and that seemed to placate Hardison enough to get him off his ranting.

It was always talk with Hardison – Nate knew the he cared enough for Parker that he would never risk storming out in a huff. Hardison was here to stay, and Nate, with only a small tingle of guilt, took full advantage of that.

But Hardison wasn't above rubbing in anything: "What _you_ would've never been able to find out," he said with a glare, pulling up a picture of a brochure, "Is that Maggie's here for a conference on art from the Renaissance era – lasts four days, security tighter than your ass, and she's giving a small panel about the techniques that Michelangelo was known to use in his statues."

Nate frowned at Hardison's choice of words, and he stepped around the couch, taking a closer look at the brochure on the screen. The keynote address was going to be given by Dr. Phillips Kensington, with a few well-known paintings being donated for the event, coming in from around the world.

"Let's see the guest list," Nate said, and he stared at the screen expectantly… except nothing came up. After a beat he looked back at Hardison, who glared at him, and pointedly clicked his remote. Giving him an exasperated look, and resisting the urge to say _Seriously?!_ Nate turned back, scanning the names on the pages that came up.

"What do we know?" he asked, none of the names on the list popping out at him. Nate looked back at him as he kicked his legs up onto the coffee table.

"_We_ don't know anything," he said, putting his arms behind his head, "But _I_ haven't seen anything fishy yet."

Nate wasn't really listening – he was watching Parker, who'd turned to look at him. Sophie was waiting for an answer of some sort, and Nate had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with the vacant stool beside Parker. It took a moment, but then Parker deflated a little, mutter something, and Sophie settled down in the chair.

"What was that?" he asked Hardison absently, and when he looked down, Hardison looked pissed to hell.

"If you're not gonna bother listenin', man, then why do you bother askin'?" Hardison protested.

But the words were processing even as Hardison spoke, and he looked back at the list of names on the screen. "No bad connections between Maggie and these names?" While he was more concerned with why she was here, it wouldn't hurt to play on the side of concern, if only because that's probably why Hardison had gone through with it.

"No, not at all. I mean, I'm not the magic man, but they all look clean."

Hardison wasn't often short with Nate. But Nate didn't push it; he already had all the information he needed. "Let me know if something comes up," he told Hardison, who looked indignant again, but Nate wasn't going to bother trying to fix that one.

Instead he headed into the kitchen, where Sophie was sitting, eating a bowl of fruit, harmless as anyone could ever be. Parker's head turned toward him as he came closer, and the look of relief on her face was obvious.

"What're you guys eating?" he asked, coming between the two of them and putting a hand on Parker's shoulder – the slightly flinch told him that she was still a little worried he was going to snap at her, but it only made him all the more determined to prove her wrong.

"Eliot made us a bowl of fruit," Sophie answered, and Eliot grunted from where he was cleaning up… something. "It's delicious, isn't it Parker?"

Parker's body tensed slightly at her name, but she nodded anyways. "It's good," she answered quietly, looking up at Nate, seeking approval. When he smiled at her, he could feel her relaxing under his hand a little.

"Good. Sophie," he said, turning to her, and making sure that he wasn't blocking her line of sight to Parker, "I had a talk with Parker, and we were thinking that it would be a great idea for you two to go out somewhere tomorrow. Spend some time together, hang out, have a good time…"

Parker's body had tensed right back up as he spoke, and while it wasn't exactly the truth, they were all smart enough to be able to figure it out. Eliot was looking at him with a calculating glint in his eye that Nate made a point of ignoring. Instead, he looked at Sophie, who was alternating between watching Parker curiously, and giving him a thoroughly unimpressed look.

"Would you want to do that, hon?" Sophie asked, peering into Parker's face.

Nate nudged Parker slightly, and Parker said, "Okay," with a look that suggested they'd asked her if she wanted to eat a bag of broccoli without peanut butter.

Sophie looked at Nate, asking him if it would really be a good idea.

Nate nodded slightly – whatever kind of problem Parker had with Sophie, it was going to have to resolve itself. And maybe they just needed to spend some outside time together.

"Well, sounds like it might be fun, doesn't it Parker?" Sophie asked, and Parker stared glumly into her half finished fruit bowl. Sophie gave Nate a tired look, to which Nate could only shrug – he had orchestrated it, but that didn't mean that Parker had the emotional chops to pretend to enjoy it.

When he looked up, Eliot was watching him critically, and that was about the time where he decided he wanted his first shot of the morning.

Chapter 17

Parker's been to malls before, but never like this. Usually, before Nate, she would only venture into them when it got so cold outside that she couldn't feel her fingers or toes anymore, and even then she knew she didn't belong there. Everyone would stare at her, the littler kids with open mouths, and the adults all avoiding her and pulling their children away from her.

It wasn't that she minded the way everyone stayed away, it was just confusing. Even when the mall was swarming with people, everyone kept two steps away from her – which made it really difficult to pick their pockets.

Now the swarms of people were treating her just like everyone else, bumping against her, hitting her with bags, pulling their children straight into her. Parker doesn't know what changed – maybe it was Sophie, who had started out holding her hand, until Parker pulled it away quickly and fiercely – being tied down in a place like this isn't going to do them any good, and it's easier to just follow behind Sophie, instead of trying to stay right beside her.

Parker can see the next swarm of people coming, and she sidesteps so that she's directly behind Sophie – but she can see a man on his cell phone coming from the other side, and Sophie isn't even looking when he runs right into her.

Sophie shrieks, loudly, and Parker cringes as she brushes past the man, her hand slipping under his long coat and into his back pocket. It's not the perfect lift, and she can feel her hand bumping against his body, but he's yelling at Sophie, so Parker feels like it's okay when she pulls her hand away with his wallet.

Bunny isn't with her, and the little backpack she keeps her things in when she goes over to Hardison's is still with Nate, so she picks up Sophie's purse from the ground, where it had fallen, and slips the wallet into it.

When she looks up, Sophie's giving the man a look Parker's seen her give Nate a few times. "Some people," she huffs unhappily, taking the purse from Parker's hands with an absent, "Thanks love. You'd think I was the one who ran into him, wouldn't you." The man leaves and Parker doesn't know what she's supposed to think, so she just nods.

It must have been the right answer, because Sophie nods too, and Parker steps out of the line of traffic with her. "Now, was there anywhere you wanted to go?" Sophie asks, and Parker shrugs.

They'd already been in what seemed like a hundred stores, and Parker still didn't see the point of it. There'd been a store full of clothes, and a store full of diamonds, and a store full of shoes, and then another store with shoes, and then another, and the stores with shoes and clothes and diamonds seemed to go on forever and ever, and there was one around every corner, and Parker didn't understand why there should possibly be so many shoes in the world.

But Sophie had wanted to go into them, and Nate had reminded her in the morning that she was supposed to be being nice to Sophie. And that she shouldn't steal stuff – but the man's wallet wasn't really stealing stuff, it was just… taking something because he'd been mean to Sophie, and Nate wouldn't have liked that. So that was okay.

"There's no where here that you want to go?" Sophie asks, looking almost confused, but a little upset as well, and Parker can't help but shrug again. "What about some new clothes?" she asks, and Parker looks behind her at the fake person wearing a sweater that's so bright, everyone would be able to see it.

"I have clothes," she says; Sophie should know, she was the one who brought them all to Nate's apartment. Probably from a mall like this, now that Parker thinks about it.

"Shoes?" Sophie asks, and Parker shakes her head,

"I have shoes."

Sophie looks down at her feet with a frown. "But just that one pair, and a lighter pair. What about… something nicer? For when you go out?"

"Out where?" There's something she missed, because she doesn't understand at all what Sophie's talking about.

The frown lessens, and Sophie smiles at her, but it looks tired. "No shoes then. How about some food? Are you hungry?"

Eliot had made breakfast before they left, and gave her a couple of cookies that she'd pushed into her pockets. They were still there though, and she was still full. "No," she says, looking down the large hall, and the piles of people, and wondering when they can leave, and go back to Nate, and Hardison and Eliot.

When she looks back, Sophie's looking down the way as well, but Parker doesn't know what exactly she's looking at. Then something changes in her face, and she looks happy all of a sudden.

"I know just the place," she says, taking Parker's hand, and before Parker can protest, she's being pulled along through the people and it's all she can do to not run into anyone.

Sophie takes her through the opening of a store and then lets go of her hand. Parker stares around at the puzzles, and the bright toys, and the games, and the stuffed animals, and the lights, and can't stop staring.

"Go on," Sophie says, nudging her shoulder, and Parker looks up at her. "I'll buy you anything you want," Sophie tells her, and Parker thinks that buying stuff is stupid when you can just take it, but Sophie's trying to be nice – and also, she really does want to get… something. "Go, look around, and find something you like," Sophie says to her, and Parker takes a tentative step, and then another, watching Sophie carefully.

When Sophie doesn't do anything, or say anything to stop her, Parker finally turns around and heads into the most cluttered part of the store, the puzzles catching her eye. There're all sorts that are out on the shelves, in front of boxes that have their pictures. There's one that's a series of shapes, and from the picture it looked like you could take it apart, and then put it back together. There was a block with different colored squares on it, and beside it, there was a bunch of weirdly shaped wooden blocks that you were supposed to assemble into the picture on the box behind it.

The one that catches her eye is a huge clear plastic ball with a maze inside – and when she picks it up she can hear a sound, and when she looks into it, there's a little metal bead that's rolling along the bottom. Parker tilts the ball and the little bead rolls and hits a part of the maze. When she tilts the ball toward it, the bead moves onto the pathway, and rolls along it.

Parker's aware enough not to flinch when Sophie touches her shoulder, and she knows that she's had her hands on the ball maze for a while now. She knows that Sophie's going to tell her to put it back, so when she asks, "Want to bring that one back to the apartment?" Parker doesn't nod, but she doesn't shrug either. Mostly, she's just confused. Most of the experiences she has of people buying her things don't end well, and she doesn't trust Sophie enough to believe it's good enough to be true.

But Sophie takes one of the boxes with the same puzzle ball inside it, and brings it up to the counter without waiting for an answer. Parker puts the ball back onto the display reluctantly and follows a few steps behind, just waiting for the moment when Sophie changes her mind.

"Just this for you?" the man at the counter asks, and Sophie nods, pulling her purse off her shoulder and putting it on the counter so that she can put her hand into it and –

Parker's chest does something funny as Sophie pulls out a wallet, holding it between her fingers in confusion. "What the…" she trails off as the man at the counter watches, looking bored. It takes Sophie only a second to put it together and look over at Parker, and Parker can just barely resist the urge to disappear behind the pillar of plastic dinosaurs.

"Parker," Sophie chides, and Parker takes a step toward the dinosaurs. Sophie looks at the pillar, and then back at her, and shakes her head unhappily. "Come over here, please," she says with that voice that you couldn't not listen to, and Parker drags her feet as she moves to stand beside Sophie.

Sophie puts a hand on her shoulder and Parker squirms under it, but she doesn't run away, even though that's what she wants to do. Nate was going to be mad at her, she thinks, especially because he'd told her not to steal anything. And Sophie was going to tell him – if she didn't just leave Parker at the mall right then and there. But Nate wouldn't let that happen, and it's that thought that keeps her by Sophie's side as Sophie explains to the cashier that she'd found the wallet on the ground, and asks if he could possibly take care of it, and if he could just ring in the puzzle, thank you very much.

Parker watches with wide eyes as Sophie pays for the ball and the cashier puts it in a bag. When the purse is back on her shoulder, and the wallet is safely behind the counter, Sophie takes the bag in one hand, and Parker's hand in the other.

This time Parker doesn't complain or pull away; just follows automatically, still trying to work out why Sophie would buy the toy for her after she'd been bad.

When they get into the car, Sophie opens the door for the backseat – because she always makes Parker sit in the backseat – and motions for Parker to get in. When Parker sits, Sophie leans against the frame of the door and Parker can't help but look at her, curious and a little worried.

"That wallet belonged to the man who ran into me, didn't it," Sophie says after a few seconds, and Parker nods because it's not a question. Sophie looks at her strangely for a moment, and then her body bends a little more, like it doesn't want to be straight. "Parker," she says, and she sounds tired and drained, and like all the bad things Parker's every known about that tone.

After a moment she mutters, "What are we going to do with you?" to herself, and Parker eyes the space between the frame and Sophie, wondering if she can manage to get through it fast enough that Sophie won't be able to catch her.

It's never been a good thing, those words, and even though the way that Sophie says them is unfamiliar, it's still a bad sign.

"Parker," she says, and Parker snaps out of her thoughts and looks up at Sophie – for a moment she feels like Sophie can read her mind, and Sophie reaches out, but stops just before she touches her shoulder.

Sophie sighs, and her hand falls, and she leans more comfortably against the frame of the door. "I'm not the bad guy, Parker," she says, and Parker looks away because it's exactly what she's been thinking. "I'm just trying to look out for… well, everyone." The soft way she says it reminds her of Nate, the way his voice sometimes sounds like that too, and it's nice.

"How about," Sophie says, the puzzle ball bag bumping against her as she looks up at the ceiling, thinking, "We don't tell Nate about what happened back there. The wallet," she clarifies, looking at Parker to see if Parker understands – and Parker does, she just doesn't know how she feels about keeping a secret from Nate. "That man'll get his wallet back, so it's not really like you stole it, right?" she asks, and Parker thinks that it doesn't really matter, but she can see what Sophie's saying. And she likes that this way, she doesn't get in trouble.

So Parker nods, hesitantly, hoping this isn't a test that she's failed. That Sophie isn't just saying it because she's going to tell Nate how Parker stole stuff, and decided to lie about it too.

The bag with the puzzle is still in Sophie's hands, and Parker wonders if she's just going to throw it out. After a second of staring, it shifts, and Sophie opens the front door and puts it on the seat there. "I'm going to keep that for a few days," she tells Parker, and Parker doesn't know what that means. "But you can have it as long as you don't take any more things that doesn't belong to you. Fair?"

Parker doesn't think it's the best idea, but at least this way she still gets to play with it when Sophie brings it back.

"No stealing, and you get to keep the puzzle?" Sophie asks, and Parker nods – it occurs to her that Sophie's holding the puzzle hostage, the way that some of the homes she'd been in would hold food and a bed hostage. But then Sophie says, "And Nate doesn't have to be none the wiser," with a nod and a smile, and a pat on the leg, and Parker thinks that maybe it's not exactly the same thing.

Parker thinks that Sophie's maybe not as bad and mean as she thought.

Chapter 18

When Nate stepped off the stairs and onto the floor, he felt like he'd just entered the emotional equivalent of subzero. In a bizarre reversal of events, Hardison was in the kitchen fixing up two plates of what looked destined to be poorly put together sandwiches, and Eliot was lounging on the couch, remote in hand, watching football.

Nate nodded a greeting to Hardison, who didn't bother to respond with anything more than a glare. Pushing back the annoying, unwelcome tingle on the back of his arms, Nate plowed onward, determined to fix up his own snack.

Hardison made a small noise that was almost a grumble when he came into the kitchen, and Nate refrained from reminding him whose apartment this actually was. It offended his sensibilities that the need for that talk was even remotely necessary.

The sandwiches that Hardison was making looked, begrudgingly, appetizing, and so Nate pulled out a bagel from the bread cupboard, ripped the two pieces apart and popped them into the toaster. When he turned, Hardison was glaring at him – Nate cocked an eyebrow and Hardison looked pointedly at the drawer right behind him; he was standing in front of the bowls were. Rolling his eyes, Nate moved, smiling sardonically as Hardison gave him an exaggerated look of thanks.

Parker had left a few hours ago with Sophie, and Nate had decided to use the time to take a nap and clearing his head for the next job, and thinking on how to make sure to keep Parker away from it – and upon waking, he'd come back downstairs to this? He knew they were playing nice for Parker's sake, but this was utterly ridiculous.

But Hardison would crack long before he did in a battle of wills, so Nate kept his silence, moving around the other man to get to the pantry and, by extension, the jam.

"Yo," Hardison said as Nate unscrewed the top of it, "Don't you go finishing all that. Parker loves the stuff."

And that was apparent, because the jar he'd really only bought for a purely decorative purpose was nearly scrapped clean.

"I know she does," he said shortly, putting the cap back on and making a mental note to buy more.

That was enough to make Hardison snap – the knife he'd been buttering the bread with clattered onto the countertop, and Nate turned around calmly to see Hardison practically seething.

"You know what, man?" he started, but apparently he was too worked up to get it all out. He sagged a little, and muttered, shaking his head, giving up. "Fuck it." Eliot had at some point gotten off the couch, and Nate could see him hovering across the breakfast bar with watchful eyes. Hardison got some breath back and pointed a finger at Nate, "And fuck you too, man. Fuck you – you don't care nothin' about that kid, and it's the shittiest thing I've ever seen. Girl thinks you're god-damn gold, but you too drunk off your ass to notice half the time."

Nate stood, unflinching – this is what he heard every time that Hardison glared or snarked at him, and his words didn't carry nearly the weight that Sophie's did when they were saying the same thing. Hardison he could dismiss easily, and he looked over to Eliot to see if the man was going to intervene, or contribute. Eliot did nothing, just stood still and at the ready, his eyes watching carefully.

The pause hadn't been a very long one, but Nate couldn't help but needle him regardless. "No, please, continue Hardison – it's all very enlightening."

Hardison took a step towards him, but Nate didn't move; neither did Eliot. Interesting – was Eliot just watching to make sure that Nate didn't go after Hardison?

"You think you'd be able to keep her head on right if we weren't around to make sure of it?" Hardison asked, the accusation and emotion thick in his voice. "You think she's some kind of con you can run from the background, sliding all the pieces into place? That you can be the big ole' puppet master, and she'll dance for you? So you can make-pretend like she's just – "

"Hardison," Eliot cut through, warning, and Hardison stopped mid-sentence, turning on Eliot. Eliot shook his head once to the side, but Nate knew why he'd done it. What he was keeping Hardison from saying.

"Just what?" Nate asked, letting the question hang, heavy and obvious. "If you don't like what I'm doing here, you're free to go. But as long as you're here, we play by my rules." Nate closed the door to the pantry for emphasize; Hardison's mouth snapped shut, enraged, but more cautious.

The line would never work on Sophie, or probably Eliot even, but Hardison…

"Fuck you," Hardison spat, and Eliot came around the breakfast bar and leaned against the counter between the two of them. "And she doesn't need another person checking out on her – you've got that part covered pretty well."

"Hardison," Eliot said again, this time more soothingly, coaxingly, and Nate cocked his head, intrigued.

"Hardison," he said as a matter of fact, "No one invited you here. And no one's asking you to stay. But Parker seems to like you, so I haven't told you to go away yet. And as long as you can play nice in front of her, I don't care if you stay – but don't, for a second, think that you're opinion has any influence here."

Hardison made to lunge, but Eliot was between them in a second, hand against Hardison's chest, keeping him at bay. "Don't do it," Eliot said in his calm, controlled voice, shepherding Hardison expertly into the corner. "Lord knows I want to do it too, but don't."

"He doesn't deserve her," Hardison said vehemently, still trying to get past the human wall Eliot had created. "He doesn't get it."

"I know," Eliot said evenly, and Hardison stopped trying to dodge around his body, and slummed back into the counter. Eliot put his hand against the edge of the counter, almost next to Hardison's side, and they stayed like that for a second.

Nate watched, vaguely interested, until the tension in Hardison's neck released, and then he said, waving his finger at the space between them, "We done here?"

Hardison's fist curled, and Eliot turned around with a gruff, "Yeah Nate, I think we're done. Go get pissed in the bar, or something."

"Well, now that I have your permission." Foregoing the bagel that had popped at some point a little while ago, Nate grabbed his blazer and headed out the door, leaving Eliot and Hardison standing in the kitchen.

It was only down in the bar, and after his third scotch, that he remembered Hardison had been a foster child once too.

Chapter 19

Parker doesn't really understand how Sophie can talk about so many things, for so long, in so many ways. But it means that she can sit in the back of the car and stare out the window and nod every now and then, and Sophie seems to be happy. Talking just to talk isn't something that Parker likes to do, but she's pretty sure Sophie loves it.

By the time they get back to the apartment, and Parker glances one last time at the puzzle in the bag waiting for her in the front seat, she thinks that she might actually be starting to like Sophie a little.

Sophie still bought her the puzzle, even though she'd stolen something. And even though Parker wanted it right away, it was kind of nice knowing that she would be getting it soon. Like a present that she knew was coming, and could hope for without the fear of being crushed by not getting it.

Not that that fear was completely gone, but there was a chance Sophie would remember to give it to her.

When they get back to the apartment, Parker heads upstairs to put her coat away because Sophie won't let her leave it on the floor; when she comes back down with Bunny, Sophie's staring at a piece of paper in her hand with a frown on her face.

Hardison and Eliot aren't there, and Nate wasn't in the upstairs room when Parker went up there – she wonders where they've all gone, and wonders if this means she's going to have to spend more time with Sophie.

Instead of asking about the paper – she would if it was Hardison, but this is Sophie, and she's not sure if Sophie will get mad or not – she climbs onto the couch with Bunny in her hands and plays with his ears.

When she touches them, she tells him about her day, how crowded the mall was, and how people didn't seem to want to avoid her anymore. How the man ran into Sophie, and she stole his wallet, and how Sophie found it later in her purse, but still bought her a puzzle toy that she'd be getting in a few days.

Bunny thought it was nice of her too, and said that maybe they should try being a little nicer to Sophie. That Sophie wasn't too bad, and Parker told him that was exactly what she thought too.

"Parker?!" The voice was almost panicked, and Parker knows from Hardison that it was how they called her name when she 'disappeared into thin air'. Parker sits up on her knees and turns around, leaning against the back of the couch, Bunny resting between her and Sophie.

It takes Sophie a second to look in her direction, but she doesn't look upset, just… relieved? Parker doesn't really know what it is, but as long as Sophie's not mad when there's no one else around to keep her safe, she's happy.

"Nate went out for a bit," she tells Parker, waving the note, and Parker thinks that Nate is probably out getting drunk. But everyone seemed to get really upset whenever that happened, and it was supposed to be their secret, sort of, so she doesn't say anything. "And Eliot and Hardison left for the night. But they said you were welcome to go spend the night with them – or you could…" she trails off, and Parker wonders if the next thing she was going to say, is that Parker could spend the night with her.

Parker wouldn't mind staying in the apartment by herself until Nate got back from getting drunk, but she has a feeling that Sophie wasn't going to let her do that. "I want to wait for Nate," she tries anyway, eyeing the door just in case Sophie decides to get really mean.

Sophie looks like it's not what she wanted to hear. She puts down the paper and puts her purse onto the counter. "I don't know when he'll be back though, love."

"I want to wait for Nate," she repeats again, and this time Sophie doesn't answer right away. She looks down at the counter, away from Parker, her eyes reading the note a couple more times.

Finally, she sits down on the chair, her arm on the counter and her head resting against her hand. "How about we wait a few hours, and if Nate still hasn't shown up, I'll take you to Hardison's. Does that sound alright?"

Parker wants to wait here all night, but she's knows that Sophie won't let her, and this is better than nothing. "Okay," she says unhappily, and Bunny whispers that maybe Sophie just doesn't want her to be in the apartment all by herself. And there's a part of her that likes that, but there's also a part of her that really doesn't.

"But in the meantime, I'm going to run you a bath, brush your hair – so when Nate comes back, you're all ready for bed, and he won't have to worry about a thing. Oh, don't do that," Sophie chides, as Parker starts sliding down the couch a little, unhappy, "It'll be fun. Come on, upstairs we go."

It takes Parker a few minutes to actually get up the stairs, but Sophie had that stupid voice that you just needed to listen to, and she didn't want to make Sophie too impatient.

Chapter 20

The phone was in his hand, and it was ringing, but Nate couldn't exactly remember why he was calling. Or who he was calling. It was late, and there were only stragglers in the bar – the people who spent their lives looking down to the bottom of a bottle. Nate was better than that though, better than those people – at least he had his life in control now. He drank because he wanted to drink, not because he needed to.

"_Hello, you've reached Maggie Collins – leave your number and I'll give you a call back as soon as I can_."

There was silence on the line, and Nate basked in it, basked in the quietness of that connection, in the emptiness that lay there. Then it beeped and it took him a second, but he launched into his spiel, the one he'd planned out a dozen times and forgotten a dozen more.

"Maggie," he said, trying not to slur his words, but he was a mess – a self-induced mess, but a mess nonetheless, and he probably sounded it too. "Maggie, it's – Parker, she's not… look, what happened – it's… it's complicated," he said finally, all the eloquent phrases and concise statements evaporating on his tongue in the time it took him to open his mouth. But he owed Maggie something – anything in the way of explanation.

"It's all complicated. And I don't want you to think… that…" he shook his head, knowing that there was no way she could him shake it, or even know. "Sophie kept saying that – but it's not true." He can't bring himself to say it, say those words, and his frustration with the lack of control he had in this one-sided conversation, the lack of control he had surrounding that topic…

"Just forget I called," he said finally, desperately, and he hung up the phone. Instead of calling for another drink, he bid the bartender goodnight; the tab would get paid, they had that arrangement, and he didn't have to worry about a thing.

When he opened the door to his apartment, all the lights were off but that of the television, and a sole floor lamp standing in the corner of the room. The television volume was on low, and he cringed when he recognized Sophie's head at the couch.

She was going to have a field day with this one, and he was annoyed only because he'd just managed to turn her around the other day; all that effort, and for what?

When he made his way to the front of the couch, as quietly as he could, he saw Parker curled under a blanket, an arm sticking out from under it, and the rabbit ear resting just beside her cheek. Her toes were tucked in next to Sophie's legs, and he couldn't remember her ever being that close with anyone else, other than him.

For a moment he thought through waking Sophie – but all those scenarios went awry in his head, and most of them involved her swearing off the crew, and hurling things at his head. But that was only because of her issues, not because of his.

Parker's eyes had opened at some point, and she was staring at him, whiteness the only thing visible in the shadow that his body cast across her.

"Hi," he said softly, and she lifted her head up a little, blinking and looking over to Sophie. "I'm just heading to bed," he told her, pointing above him in case she didn't understand. "Was going to let Sophie just sleep here."

Parker was sitting up in earnest now, shifting carefully, and it took him a moment to realize that it was because she didn't want to wake Sophie up. Maybe the day out had done something to change her attitude? Or maybe she just wanted Nate to herself.

"Coming up?" he asked, surprised with the relief he felt when she nodded. Carefully she eased herself to her knees, and gently spread the blanket she'd been covered with over Sophie's body. Sophie seemed comfortable enough, head pillowed into the arm of the couch, the rest of her body curled up toward it.

Nate held out his hand and Parker took it, and together they went up the stairs. He was louder than her, but he was also bigger, and he went into the bathroom to change and brush his teeth. He'd take a shower in the morning, but right now he really just wanted to get to bed.

Parker was dozing when he came back into the room, the covers of the bed pulled up around her shoulders. When Nate lay down, she waited a beat, and then shifted a little closer to him, until he could feel the heat of her arm against his.

When he closed his eyes, she scooted a little closer, and after a minute or so, her arm reached out and wrapped around his. Her face shifted into the blanket, and he felt the rabbit brush against his arm.

Her breath evened out and she grew still, and Nate realized that he loved her just like he loved Sam; loved her in all the ways he couldn't love his own son any more. Soon after that, he was asleep too.

Chapter 21

Parker wakes up to the sound of water – it's different than the sound of rain falling, and her face isn't wet… it takes her a second to realize that it's coming from the bathroom, and that since she was alone in the big bed, it was probably Nate in there, taking a shower.

The pillow that Nate slept on still smells like the alcohol his breath had smelt like, and Parker sits up a little. Sophie was downstairs, and Sophie hated it more than anyone when Nate drank. Parker sees on the clock that it was 6:30 in the morning – Nate never woke up this early. Sometimes Eliot came by this early, but it was never Nate.

Her eyes are still sleepy, and her mind is muzzy, but she doesn't want to go to sleep, not while Nate's awake. She wonders if Eliot is here yet, or if he's just coming through the door, a bag of food in one hand, and a smile for her.

The water slows into nothing, and Parker curls up under the covers, wondering if Nate will come back and fall asleep. Maybe he just wanted to shower so he could sleep clean? It takes a few more minutes until Nate comes out, and Parker almost falls asleep a couple times, her eyes closing every now and then and opening when she realizes that they've closed themselves.

The door opens and Parker looks up with bleary eyes – the light from the bathroom is strong, and her eyes aren't used to it. Nate's dressed in a nice shirt and a nice pair of pants, and Parker wonders if he has another appointment today.

"Morning Parker," he says softly, and his voice is alert and energetic and she doesn't think that he'll be coming back to bed anymore.

Parker sits up and yawns instead of responding, Bunny lying in her lap. The blankets fall off her shoulders and she shivers just for a moment until she gets used to the cooler air. "Nate?" she asks, because he's almost at the stairs, and he looks over at her, and she thinks that he's smiling but she can't really tell because he turned off the light in the bathroom and now her eyes have to adjust to the darkness again.

"Come down and I'll make some breakfast," he tells her, and Parker doesn't know how she feels about that, but crawls out of the bed anyways.

Nate's breakfast probably isn't going to be as good as Eliot's, if the burnt pieces of toast are anything to go off. But it's time she can spend with Nate, and they're both awake, and she likes that part.

Sophie's still sleeping soundly on the couch, one arm curled around her head, and the other tucked under the blanket. Parker follows Nate onto the kitchen, and after a second, climbs up onto the counter.

"Eliot usually makes pancakes, doesn't he," Nate says, and Parker nods, Bunny sitting in her lap. Nate sighs. "How about eggs and bacon, and toast instead?" he says, and Parker knows he doesn't know how to make pancakes as good as Eliot, so she nods.

Usually, with Eliot, he'll give her something to do, or mix, or watch over – but Nate turns on the kettle for the water, and pulls out a pan. He puts some butter into it, turns on the heat, and turns back to her. There isn't anything for her to do, so she just watches.

"How'd your day with Sophie go?" he asks quietly, nodding over to the couch. They're not supposed to wake her up, which is why they're talking quietly, that much Parker knows, but she doesn't know how long Sophie will be able to sleep with Nate being so loud everywhere.

"Good," Parker answers him, in the same quiet voice, playing absently with Bunny's arm.

Nate waits a second, and then asks, "What did you guys do?"

"We had pizza for lunch," she says, "And we went to the mall. And then we came back."

Nate looks like he's expecting more, but Parker doesn't know what he wants to know. And she doesn't want to say anything about the man who ran into Sophie, and how she took his wallet, and how Sophie had found it, and how she had bought her that puzzle, and was going to give it to her in a few days, and how she was confused about that, and how just maybe, Sophie wasn't so bad after all.

"Did you have a good time?" Nate asks, poking at the butter with a wooden spoon as it starts to melt.

Parker shrugs, and Nate gives her a look. "It was alright," she answers reluctantly, and he seems satisfied with that. The ring of a cell phone fills the silence that follows, and they both look over to the couch, where it's coming from.

There's some shifting and shuffling, and finally the noise stops, and Sophie answers with a sleepy, "'ello?"

There's silence, and Nate moves to open the fridge. "One second," Parker hears Sophie say, and Nate brings back a package of bacon and the carton of eggs. Sophie's head appears over the top of the couch, her hair messy like Parker's usually is, and she say into the phone, "Yea'. They're both up. …Ta."

She hangs up the phone and stretches as Nate puts on the bits of bacon – Sophie looks at her phone and mutters, "Bloody hell."

Parker keeps watching her as she disappears for a second before reappearing, this time standing up and trying to pull her clothes straight. They're all rumpled, and Parker's not sure she's ever seen Sophie like this. It makes her look a lot less mean.

"Are you always up this early?" she asks, unhappily, and Parker looks over at Nate, because Sophie must be talking to him.

"Parker is," Nate answers, turning around as the bacon starts to sizzle. "Breakfast?"

Sophie leans against the counter to look at what Nate has set out, and wrinkles her nose. "Depends," she says, and Nate gives her a questioning look. Sophie gives him a look back, and Nate shrugs and nods, and Parker doesn't really know what the answer is, but Nate puts on another strip of bacon, so she assumes it was a yes.

The water finishes boiling and Nate goes to make some coffee. "Tea?" he offers, and Sophie nods – Nate's not looking at her, but he pulls out a tea bag anyway, and Parker has to wonder how he knows.

"Where were you last night?" Sophie asks, her voice unhappy, and Parker thinks that it's pretty obvious where Nate was, but she doesn't say that.

"Bar," Nate answers, and Parker watches him sip at his black coffee. "Thinking about our next case."

Instead of getting upset, Sophie looks surprised. "We have another job?" she asks, and Nate turns around – and someone knocks on the door.

Parker looks at Nate, and Nate looks at Sophie, who says, "Eliot just called to make sure Parker didn't need either of them to come by."

Parker finds herself a little disappointed that Eliot and Hardison won't be here, but she does have Nate, so that's alright. It doesn't answer who the person at the door was.

Nate looks suspicious though, and as he goes around the counter he picks up a knife from the block of knives, holding it in one hand. Parker slides off the counter, worried. Sophie's looking at the door, and Nate opens it, standing on an angle, the knife at the ready to attack.

Instead, he takes a step back, and the knife falls to his side. "Maggie?"

Chapter 22

It took Maggie a second to register the knife, and it took that long for Nate to remember that he was holding it. "Sorry," he apologized, moving it behind his leg so it wasn't so present. Maggie looked concerned, but understanding – she'd been through a job or two with them, and she knew the risks that came with it.

"Can I come in?" she asked, pushing in through the door without waiting for an answer.

Nate looked up at the countertop, but Parker was gone from where she'd been sitting. He moved closer to the kitchen as Maggie dumped herself on the counter, realizing that Parker had pulled a disappearing act.

The clock now read 7:02am, and he placed the knife down. "Not that I mind," he said, even though really, he did, "But what are you doing here?"

"Nate," Sophie said, urgently, and Nate looked over at her. The smell of burning bacon reached him a beat later, and he hurried around the counter to get to the pan – flipping the strips over, he saw the black, crispy edges and frowned.

"Hi Sophie," Maggie was saying, and he heard the two of them exchanging a cheek-kiss in greeting – of course they were best friends now. Of course they were.

"Maggie," Sophie greeted. "Sorry about this," she said, and Nate could nearly see her waving at her appearance, "Fell asleep on the couch, and no one bothered to wake me."

When Nate did turn around, he saw both of them looking at him. He couldn't tell if Maggie thought that it was an indication of romance, or that she thought he was just an asshole. Either way, the path of least resistance was to just let her stay, and so he did just that.

"Breakfast?" Nate asked, deciding to breeze past any of potential awkwardness that would be involved in trying to explain why Sophie had slept on the couch, but Maggie just frowned. "What?" he asked, looking over at Sophie, who was looking around the apartment with a matching frown.

"Where's…?" she trailed off, and Nate called out,

"Parker? You can come out. I want you to meet someone."

There was silence for a moment, and then Parker peeked out from behind his desk, the rabbit right under her chin and against her chest protectively. Nate pulled the pan off the stove, writing it off as a lost cause, and came around.

It was unfortunate that Hardison and Eliot weren't around – Parker looked like she could use some familiar faces. "Come over here," Nate encouraged, and Parker shuffled a little further out from the desk; it was only when Nate was closer to her than Maggie was that she came all the way out, standing just a little bit behind him.

"Parker, this is Maggie," he said, pushing her gently in front of him, and she looked back at him with concern. Yeah, he didn't like it any more than she did, but he couldn't very well keep her a secret from Maggie. Even though part of him wished those two factions of his life could remain separate.

Maggie stepped forward and crouched down, her hands clasped and a smile on her face that Nate knew was secretly sad. "Hey Parker," she said, more gently and kindly than Nate knew he could ever sound. "I'm an old friend of Nate's."

"You were at the store," Parker said, the rabbit hugged tightly to her chest, glancing up at Nate, still concerned.

"I was," Maggie nodded, and Parker looked confused. "Nate and I used to be married a long time ago," she said, and Parker looked alarmed, looking up at Nate, who cringed. It wasn't that he didn't want Parker to know but… it was just one of those things.

Nate wasn't really sure where this was going, and Parker clearly wasn't having the best time in the world. "How about we get that breakfast together?" he said, giving Parker an out, but Maggie glared at him, before turning a nice look back to Parker.

"You like living here?" she asked, and Nate could see the panic going through Parker's body. How many times before had she heard that question, and how many times had her answer led to a disastrous end?

Putting a hand on her shoulder, he said, "Maggie's an art expert. She knows a lot about paintings, and sculptures, and famous painters."

"I know a little more than that," Maggie said indulgently, but she seemed to realize that Nate's primary concern was to let Parker know she wasn't a social worker. That it was just a question she was curious about, not one that would seal her fate.

"Breakfast?" Nate tried once more, and Parker nodded eagerly, probably as excited as he was to get away from this bizarre meeting. Maggie sighed and stood; but she wasn't going to get much more than that, and she'd just have to deal with it.

Parker scurried – there literally was no other word for it – back to the counter, and scrambled on top of it, like there was a chance Maggie's presence might retract that offer, and she wanted to beat everyone to it.

The rabbit stayed firmly clamped in her arms, and she watched Maggie with clear suspicion while his ex-wife took a seat next to Sophie and the two women began an amazing display of small talk. Sophie and Maggie talked about the weather, their lack of interest in sports, about the new fashions, about the price of gold, about how despicable the standards of the art community were getting, and about the art community itself, and how difficult it was to find a decent man these days. Maggie's contributions to that particular topic seemed to be more of a concession to Sophie's passive aggressive diatribe, and Nate wasn't surprised at all with any of the things Sophie had to say.

Nate threw Parker a 'see' look, and she nodded mutely, watching with something akin to fascination.

It didn't take long (but still too long) to get the second batch of breakfast ready, and he placed the food on the dining room table, thinking how strange and bizarre this current moment in his life was.

Chapter 23

Before, Parker had thought that Sophie was good at talking. But Sophie _and_ Maggie talking at the same time was like… like something out a movie. And Parker had absolutely no idea how they did it. It seemed like they could talk about anything, and when Nate finally finished up with making breakfast, and her tummy was grumbling, they were still talking.

They kept talking as they moved to the dining room table, and as Nate put their plates down, and as they ate – neither one of them ever got caught with a mouthful of food, and they talked about one thing, then another, and then another without ever really stopping.

When Parker reaches over to take a chunk of bacon off of Nate's plate, their conversation finally stops for a second, and when Parker looks up, they're both looking at her.

Sophie's smiling, and Maggie looks like she isn't sure if she should smile, or be sad. Parker presses back against her seat, putting the bit of bacon into her mouth and chewing it slowly, trying to not be there. She doesn't like it when people stare right at her.

"Stop staring," Nate tells them, and Sophie shakes her head at him, and Maggie has a soft look on her face. Parker wants to disappear under the table so they can forget about her, but she's pretty sure _that's_ not allowed, so she just sinks a little further up in her seat, bringing Bunny up to cover her face a little. Sophie looks away and starts talking about something else to Maggie – Maggie keeps her eyes on Parker for a little longer, but eventually her gaze drifts away, and Parker lowers Bunny.

It takes another few minutes for her to actually start eating again, and by then, Nate's up and going to make some more coffee. The eggs don't taste as good as Eliot's, but the toast isn't burnt, and this batch of bacon isn't burnt, so Parker likes it. It's all a little cold now, but that's all right, and she eats the rest of it as quickly as she can, in case Maggie or Sophie make Nate clear her plate before they have dessert.

Only, dessert is some crackers that Nate finds in the pantry, and even though Nate's still her favorite, Parker does find herself missing Eliot just a little bit. Sophie and Maggie's conversation fills the lack of Hardison and Eliot talking, but it doesn't sound the same at all.

Parker wonders where they went, but she knows it's not the right time to ask, so she just stays quiet, until Nate brings her some juice, and puts three other mugs on the table.

Maggie looks at her again, with a smile, and Parker wishes she would just stop noticing her. "So Parker," she says, and Parker glances at Nate, sinking a back into the chair. "How old are you?"

Parker stays quiet and stares at her, trying to figure out the right answer. She can't remember when her birthday is, but she knows she has one. Everyone has a birthday. And she doesn't really know how long she'd been moved from the different houses, and she doesn't know at all how long she'd been on the street before Nate saved her. She's trying to remember what number was supposed to mean her birthday on the identity card that Hardison had made for her, but she can't.

Maggie, for some reason, decides that it isn't important, and nods to Bunny. "What's her name?" she asks, and Parker's grip on Bunny tightens.

No one ever asked about Bunny without the intention of taking him away, and while Parker knows that Nate won't ever take him, she's not so sure about Maggie. Or Sophie, for that matter.

"It's alright, Parker," Nate says quietly, moving his chair a little closer so that he can touch the back of her shoulder, and Parker suddenly has the strongest urge to sit in his lap, close to him and safe. When she doesn't answer, he rubs his hand in a little circle, and says, "Maggie's a friend, I promise."

Parker glances at Sophie, who smiles and nods, and finally answers with a cautious, "Bunny's a boy."

"Oh, sorry about that." And Maggie did look like she was a little sorry, and Parker shifts a little closer to Nate. "Have you had him for long?"

This time Parker just nods – she's never going to tell anyone how she got Bunny, not ever. And she would never, ever, tell anyone all the things she'd done since then, to keep him safe.

"I had a son about your age," Maggie says, and Nate's grip on her back tightens sharply, for a second, but it's just enough to make her panic. Parker slides out of the chair, away from Nate's hand, Bunny clutched against her side. Nate looks upset, and she doesn't know if it's because she moved away. She can see Maggie over the table, and this time she does look really sad. "He had a little plastic toy he'd carry around everywhere when he was younger – a hippo."

Parker doesn't care about a hippo, and she doesn't care about Maggie's son. She doesn't know what's happening right now, but everyone is looking at one another – Sophie's making faces she's never seen before, Nate's glaring and upset, and Maggie looks like she's about to cry.

"Nate?" Parker asks, her voice wobbling, tense and nervous and scared and confused. Why was Maggie asking her questions, and staring at her, and talking about her son, and looking at Nate with those sad eyes? None of it makes sense, and it all feels weird, and she just wants Maggie to leave, and for Hardison and Eliot to come back so that Hardison can be silly with her, and she can lean against Nate on the couch while Eliot makes cinnamon buns and talks with Hardison.

Nate's still glaring at Maggie though, and he says, "Maggie," in a way that makes Parker even more nervous. It sounds like they were all about to get into a fight or something, and Parker moves to the other side of the chair, to be closer to Nate – Nate would never let her get hurt by someone else, and she doesn't really know whose side Sophie's on.

As soon as Parker's close enough, Nate reaches down and scoops her up, pushing back his chair and putting her on his lap.

"Nate," Maggie says, and she looks like she's going to say more, but Nate wraps his arms around Parker, holding her close, and Parker leans against his chest, relaxing a little – the weird feelings and looks are easier to ignore when she's this close to Nate. She's safe here, and Maggie can be as weird as she wants, but she won't be able to get to her.

Nate, though, sounds like he isn't very happy. "Why'd you come here, Maggie?" he asks, and Sophie shoots him an unimpressed look, but Nate doesn't even look at her.

"You left me a voicemail last night," Maggie answers sharply, just as unhappy, and Parker looks at the way that Bunny's ear catches in the pocket on the front of Nate's shirt.

Parker can see Sophie's head snapping toward Nate, whose grip on her tightens a little more. "Yes." It's not a happy yes, or a questioning yes, just a yes that means yes, a yes that means stop, and Parker wonders that if anyone would notice if she disappeared upstairs.

"You sounded like you had something you wanted to explain," Maggie says, and if Parker wasn't curled up against him, she'd look up at Nate to see how he reacted.

Sophie's doing the thing where she's talking to Nate without talking, and Parker tries to not think about it. Nate's getting angry, and tense, and she doesn't like it at all.

"What if I take – " Sophie starts to say, but Nate cuts her off with a firm,

"No. Parker's fine."

"Nate," Maggie says, and she doesn't sound angry or upset anymore, just sad. "I just want to make sure that…"

"Don't," Nate says shortly, and Parker glances at Maggie, who gives her the same look that every single social worker ever gave her before telling her that the family didn't like her, and that she had to go away. But Nate would never make her go away and she fists her hand in his shirt, desperately wanting to disappear.

"Nate – "

"I've got it handled," he tells Maggie in his no-nonsense voice, and Parker doesn't like hearing it, even if it isn't directed to her.

Sophie's voice pitches in with, "Nate," and Parker wonders why everyone thinks that just saying his name is going to make things better. It never makes anything better.

"That's what you said about Sam's treatment," Maggie says softly, and this time Parker doesn't have a moment to react before Nate's standing up, his arms wrapped around her body and holding her up.

"Nate!" Sophie says, and this time it's loud and pleading, and she's standing up as well. Parker clings to Nate's neck, Bunny pressed firmly between them, wrapping her legs around Nate's waist.

"I'm not part of your life any more, Maggie," Nate says loudly, and Parker presses her ear into Nate's shoulder so that it's not so loud. "And you don't get to have an opinion about how I live it." He keeps going, and Parker closes her eyes, reminding herself that Nate's not talking to her, "So stay out of it. I won't be calling you again."

"But _you_ called _me_!" Maggie says, desperately, and Sophie's watching them like she doesn't know what to do – and it's the first time that she's seen Sophie look like that, and it makes Parker's stomach feel funny. Nate heads to the door, slips on his shoes, grabs Parker's in his hand, and opens the door.

Nate ignores Maggie whens she talks and says over her voice, "Sophie, I'll call," before slamming the door shut.

Chapter 24

Nate doesn't really know where he's going. For a while he just drove around, ignoring the ringing cell phone that was in storage over the drive shaft. When Parker tried to reach out for it, he put it in the side arm rest. Parker hadn't said anything yet, and he wasn't really sure why that was.

Well, that was a lie – he knew exactly why that was. Maggie's arrival had shaken her, and the questions had shaken her, and the argument had shaken her. All the animosity, and regret, and hurt that they'd been permeated the air with had seeped into her body like a seedling that had found water. She probably had no idea what it was really about either, judging by the wild panic he'd seen in her eyes. Parker just felt and reacted, but Nate understood where it was coming from.

Now that Maggie said it, he remembered leaving that voicemail. He hadn't even been that drunk, just feeling inexplicably guilty. Like he'd somehow cheated at their game of grief, cheapening his sorrow and rubbing hers in her face. It wasn't true of course – it would never be true. The blond girl sitting in the passenger seat of the car clutching her ratty rabbit like it would be ripped away by the wind on the other side of the door would never be Sam. And Sam could never be replaced by her, or forgotten.

Losing Sam was his burden to carry, and his pain to harbor, and he would never cheapen it, or bury it. But Parker was his, and the ferocity with which he felt that was overpowering. She needed him, relied on him, listened to him, and counted on him to provide her with security. And he needed her to need him, and what's more than that, he loved her.

And he wasn't perfect, and maybe he had a few issues of his own, but he was going to make it work, and he was going to make sure that she was taken care of and watched over.

"Nate?" she said softly, timidly, like a mouse taking it's first few steps onto the floor of the kitchen.

Nate glanced at the clock as he turned his head to look at her, the highway empty ahead of them. "Yeah Parker?" he asked, trying to sound nice, and patient, and not at all upset with her. Because he wasn't, he just needed to get out of there, and he didn't want to leave her behind.

"I need to pee," she said miserably, looking down into the rabbit's head, and Nate looked onto the road to see if there was anything immediately coming up.

There was only grass, but he reached over and patted her leg. "I'll pull over the next stop I see." And she didn't flinch, which was good, but she also didn't say anything.

If only she was older, and better at reading people and situations, she would know that what happened back there didn't have anything to do with her. It had nothing to do with her, and everything to do with who Nate was, and what Maggie thought he was.

The phone rang again, and Nate ignored it, catching sight of a sign that signaled a rest area a couple miles up the road. "Parker," he started, uncharacteristically hesitant, and she shifted a little so that she was facing him a bit better. "You know that what Maggie was saying… what happened back at the apartment… that wasn't about you, you know that, right?"

Parker didn't answer, but he could see her looking at him, could feel her trepidation, and he'd never been so glad to see an exit ramp.

They took the ramp in silence, and slowed, and when Nate pulled into the rest stop and turned off the car, it sounded like the quietest thing he'd ever heard.

"You know that, right?" he asked again, this time taking his seatbelt off and turning all the way to face Parker. Parker curled her legs up under her, and shrugged with one shoulder; for all that she'd been looking before, she refused to look up now.

"Come here," Nate muttered, unbuckling her seatbelt and pulling her onto the seat, onto his lap, and at first she passively came, but that only lasted a while before she was curled up on his lap, face pressed against his chest, the rabbit cradled in her arms. "I promise it wasn't you," he whispered, pressing a kiss into her hair and resting his head on it as she shivered.

She wasn't crying, and it wasn't cold out. "It's alright," he murmured, rubbing her back, and his shirt tightened around him. "Hey," he said, pulling away slightly and trying to look down. "You're alright, right?"

Parker nodded, bravely, but it was obviously just a front for him. He felt compelled to explain.

"There's a lot of… feelings, between Maggie and I. Things that, well, we thought we were over. But they aren't, and that's what that was about. Not you," he reassured, "Never you."

And sure, it was a little bit about her, but not in the way she was thinking. Not at all in the ways that made her scramble in panic, cower in fear.

"Okay," she whispered, with a vague hint of conviction, and Nate took it, because it was at least something.

"Ready to go?" he asked, hand on the door handle, and she took a moment to compose herself, and then nodded.

As he waited outside the bathroom for her, the rabbit hanging from one hand, he wondered that if past feelings were the cause for his argument with Maggie, then what was the cause for his argument with Hardison?

Chapter 25

It really is better, Parker thinks as she pulls herself onto the monkey bars and gets her feet under her, when it's just Nate and her. When it was just the two of them, and they were together, and playing, that was the best.

"Be careful," he tells her, from where he's sitting down on the playground platform, and she nods as she gets her feet balanced, and stands. It's high up here, but she loves it. No one can get to her when she's this high. The bars are easy to cross, and even easier when she goes faster, so she almost runs across them. The monkey bars end but she jumps onto one of the posts that's holding them up – Nate's on his feet, and coming over to her, and she suddenly remembers Hardison yelling at her for doing exactly what she's doing.

But Nate's just looking up at her with interest, his arms folded, Bunny hanging off his arm, his head tilted to the side. When she looks at him, he smiles, and nods.

A wide smile crosses her face – the post is holding up a strip of metal that has a slider in it too, so kids can jump up and slide across to the next platform. Parker takes a step with one foot on the bar holding the slider up, and hops onto the thin metal strip the slider travels across. For a second her arms go wide, steadying her, but she never feels that unsettling tug that means she's about to fall.

Carefully she steps across the slider, all the way until she gets to the other side. The slider's on that side of the platform, and she sits down on the bar, falling backwards with her legs hooked around it. She swings for a second, watching Nate's smiling face, and then reaches up to grab the slider, releasing her legs and using the momentum to push herself back the way she came.

When the slider hits the end, she lets go, and for a moment she's flying through the air – but then she comes back down and lands on the platform. It doesn't take her long to catch her breath, and by the time she does, Nate's sitting on the platform, right by where she's standing.

"You're good at that," he says, and it doesn't sound like he's making fun of her, or lying, and Parker doesn't remember the last time any one had said anything that made her feel so good about herself.

She doesn't know how to react though, so she looks away, confused about what she's supposed to do.

"It's a good thing," Nate reassures her, and she shrugs, sitting down on the platform next to him. "Where'd you learn how to do stuff like that?"

Parker shrugs again – it's not something anyone showed her how to do, it's just stuff that she does. It's just fun, and it's helped her run away from people more than a couple times. When bigger people chased her, they couldn't follow her if she slipped through something smaller, like a hole in a fence.

"No one taught you?" Nate asks, and he looks surprised at that, and Parker just stares at the gravel at their feet. Before Nate had found her, she'd been staying at the park. Most of the parents didn't notice that she was always there, and she mostly played by herself anyway. But there was one lady who was always watching her. And when the lady had asked her about her parents, Parker ran away, climbing up the bars that kept them all fenced in. After that she started climbing on everything that she could find – but she only ever went back to that park at night, to sleep.

Nate doesn't say anything for a minute or two, but then he stands, and stretches. "Time to get going," he says, and Parker gets up as well, taking Bunny when he hands him to her.

Parker doesn't ask where they're going, but as they head to the car, Nate says, "Maggie'll be gone when we get back to the apartment," and she's glad that she doesn't have to meet Maggie again. "Sophie might still be there – I'm going to have to talk with her if she is."

Parker nods, because she doesn't know what else she can do. Nate opens the car door for her, and closes it as she puts on her seatbelt – when he gets into the drivers seat across from her, he pulls on his own seatbelt and turns the car on.

Nate's phone is blinking, which means that he has a message, but he ignores it. Parker would make it stop blinking herself, but last time she reached out at it, he'd moved it away, and she doesn't to make him upset.

Maggie had said that she had a son, and Parker wonders if that means that Nate had a son too. And if that means that Nate's son died. That would be sad, if it was true, because dying was bad. But she doesn't ask, because she doesn't want Nate to get upset like he did with Maggie. And she doesn't know how to ask, and maybe Sophie would know how, because Sophie could talk about anything. Or maybe Hardison would know how, because Hardison liked talking almost as much as Sophie did.

But Parker doesn't think she should talk about it herself, so she just tucks her legs up under her, and leans against the door.

For a while Nate focuses on the road, on driving, and Parker can feel her eyes getting heavier as she looks up out the window, the trees and cars and grass whizzing past them. Suddenly there's soft music playing, and it's surprising, but she can still see Nate with one bleary, half open eye.

That eye doesn't stay open for long though, and when she closes it, it doesn't open again.

Chapter 26

Nate opened the door with one hand, the other supporting Parker, who had shuffled in semi-sleep just enough to wrap her arms around him, before dozing off again. It was strangely reminiscent of the first time that Nate had met Parker, when she'd fallen asleep in the back of his car amidst a pile of money. This time though, there wasn't a disapproving Sophie (who must have gone home to change) waiting for him at the dining table.

Holding a finger up to his lips, he quietly closed the door behind him, careful not to rouse Parker more than necessary. She'd only been sleeping for ten minutes before they got here, and he was sure that between her aerobatics in the park, and the early morning, she was going to need a bit more than that.

Sophie followed him up the stairs, and he saw that the bed was made, and the pile of dirty clothes Parker didn't understand went into the hamper, had disappeared. Evidently, Sophie hadn't gone home to change: she'd had a spare set of clothes somewhere between this apartment and the adjacent one that Eliot had so efficiently connected. Judging by the flowery smell coming out of his bathroom, she'd felt more than welcome to shower in there.

Gently easing Parker off his shoulder and into the bed, he tucked her in and placed the rabbit in her arms. With a murmur she turned toward it, pulling it closer before coming to rest once more. Pulling the blinds tight, so it was darker, he lingered, until he leaned down and pressed a kiss into her hair.

Turning around, he gestured for Sophie to leave – it wasn't until he was closer that she actually did turn around, and he followed her down the stairs.

"Don't bother answering your mobile anymore, I see," Sophie started the second they'd stepped away from the stairs, and Nate didn't make any attempt to respond, heading to the bar instead.

Of course, it was empty, and he turned around just in time for Sophie to give him an extremely exasperated, "Nate!"

"What?!" he answered back, in almost the same tone, and she looked taken aback for a moment. Probably hadn't been expecting him to give in and respond so quickly.

Sophie gestured, at a loss for words – Maggie, she was saying, what was that all about?

Nate abandoned the empty wet bar, heading to the kitchen and hoping there was still some wine left in the fridge. Sophie followed closely behind him, tutting, waiting right there with a challenge when his search of the fridge turned up empty – a challenge to go without.

It was a challenge he had to take up, if only so that he could prove to the both of them that it _wasn't_ a problem, and he _was _in control. Instead, he moved on to start the coffee machine, and Sophie cleared her throat. It wasn't until he turned around that she hissed, in a hushed tone, her arms folded, "What was all that about?"

"All what?" Nate asked, playing dumb, and she scowled at him. Obviously they were talking about Maggie, and he had the distinct impression she thought he was being a bigger wanker than usual.

"That," she said, when he refused to answer, "With Maggie. And all the storming out and… aggression."

She was trying to get him to talk about it, but that was the last thing he wanted. "Maggie was the one who – "

"Oh Nate," Sophie said theatrically, throwing her arms in the air and turning away from him – she made it to the counter before she turned back, leaning back against it like if she didn't, she would come throttle him. "Don't play that game with me. That's not what I was asking."

"You asked what that was," Nate pointed out, and she gave him a look like he was being intentionally thick. And he was.

"We both know that's not what I meant," she muttered, and he couldn't disagree with her. And there was a silence between them, a soft one, almost understanding. It didn't last long enough though; "It was harder than you expected, wasn't it?" she asked softly, and Nate gritted his teeth, unwilling to have this conversation.

Instead he turned to his coffee maker, where the cup was almost done being filled.

"Nate," Sophie said softly, coming behind him and touching his back tentatively. The tension didn't leave his body but he didn't move away, and her hand quickly became her arm, which quickly became her side pressing against his. "It's going to be hard," she told him softly, gently, lovingly, and he didn't respond, just stood there. "But you can't keep alienating the only people who want to help you."

"Parker was - "_ clearly uncomfortable_, he wanted to say, and he'd wanted to get her out of there. And he wanted to get out of there himself, his anger with Maggie – with himself, overwhelming.

"Not the problem," Sophie said firmly, her head coming down to lean against his shoulder, supporting, but not weakening. "What about Eliot and Hardison?"

And Nate rolled his eyes – of course they called Sophie in, to fix the situation, and he was about to open his mouth when Sophie chided him preemptively,

"You know that's not what it is. You're being an arse, and quite frankly, I'm surprised it lasted this long."

"I can do this," he told her firmly, and she nodded against his shoulder, her arm warm against his back; he missed this, this familiarity, the support a gesture like that could bring from the right person. _The_ right person.

"Of course you can," Sophie agreed readily, and it made him suspect a follow up. He wasn't disappointed: "But is that going to be the best thing for Parker? No, of course it isn't, and don't you even try arguing with that."

His coffee was still in the mug, ready and waiting, but he let it stay where it was. "You should've seen her at the park today," he told her, needing to change the subject, needing to have some sort of stab at the domestic. "Could've given Irene a run for her money."

"Who else would you pick up, other than a born-thief?" she asked sardonically, and he finally disengaged from her, though he stayed close enough so that her hand could linger on his waist. "You seem to attract them."

Nate looked into her face, looked at her eyes, and tried to see if they were doing _that_ now. The flirting, the caring – they'd been getting somewhere, he was sure, before Parker came along, but now… where were they? He'd been too caught up in Parker, and his own demons, to test those waters.

Throwing caution to the air, certain he was reading her signals correctly, he leaned forward slightly – Sophie put a hand on his chest, stopping him, and he narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Not what you need right now," she told him, regret in her voice, but maybe she was right.

"And what do you think I need?" he asked, leaning back against the fridge and giving them both a little more space. "Another pep talk on how we're all a family and I'm not alone?"

"You already know that," Sophie chided, and that took him by surprise, the ease with which she made it sound like a barb.

"Then what?" he asked, puzzled, and she looked at him for a moment, and he remembered why he loved all the ways she surprised and intrigued him.

Then she took a step forward, and kissed him gently, deeply, and he remembered how he loved the way she kissed him too.

Chapter 27

When Parker comes down the stairs, Nate and Sophie are on the couch, talking quietly. Nate has his arm around Sophie and they're looking at one another; Sophie's leaning against Nate like Parker leans against him sometimes, and it makes her frown. She doesn't really like it, so she comes down the stairs and around the edge of the couch – Sophie gasps when she sees her, jumping, and nearly hits Nate in the face.

"Hey kiddo," Nate says once Sophie's sitting back down properly, and Parker just watches them, wondering if she's going to be sent away. "Come sit with us," Nate says instead, and Parker hesitates just a moment before crawling up the couch and into Nate's lap.

It means that her feet are tucked under Sophie's legs, and it means that she's much closer to Sophie than she ever wanted to be, but she's closer to Nate than Sophie is, and that makes it all right.

"We were just talking about what we should do for dinner."

Parker looks up at Nate and then over at Sophie – when did they become a 'we'? And when were Hardison and Eliot going to come back? Then Eliot could make dinner, and they'd just all be there, without having to be a 'we'.

"I was thinking some pesto chicken and mashed parsnips – Nate, however, doesn't think it sounds appetizing. What do you think?"

Parker shakes her head – and it's not just because she wants to agree with Nate, but it also sounds like something that's a lot harder to make than toast.

"See," Nate says, smiling, and Parker presses a little into his chest, reminding herself that Sophie won't be able to make her go away. And she isn't sure anymore that Sophie does want her to go away, but it's nice to know that Nate's right there. "No pesto chicken or parsnips. I was saying we should order a pizza," he says, and Parker nods quickly as Sophie rolls her eyes.

"American's," she says in a huff, getting up off the couch – Parker's feet are suddenly cold and she tucks them between the couch cushions. "I'll go get the menu – same as yesterday, Parker?"

"Cheese and pepperoni?" Nate asks, and Parker nods – Sophie pulls out her phone, but it starts ringing the moment she looks at it.

"Oh," she says in surprise, and then she frowns, and answers it with, "What's wrong?"

For a moment she listens, and then she says, "Well, why don't you come on over… of course I'm sure… don't be ridiculous… I'll see you soon."

"Hardison?" Nate asks, and Parker looks up at the name, wanting to know where he is.

Sophie nods and glances at the menu in her hand. "I guess I'm ordering a couple pizza's then."

When Sophie gets off the phone, the doorbell rings. Nate doesn't get up, and Sophie gives him a look. Nate shrugs, and she goes to open the door. "You have a key," she says as she opens it, and Parker gets excited when she sees that Eliot's standing there. "You could have just come in."

Eliot doesn't say anything to that, just steps past her and takes his coat off. He has a container in his hands, and Parker wonders what's in it. "Hiya, Parker," he says with a smile, and she waves at him. He doesn't say anything to Nate, and Nate doesn't say anything to him, and Parker wonders if they're mad at one another again. "You guys order pizza?" he asks, looking down at the menu in Sophie's hands, and Sophie nods.

"I've been craving a slice since yesterday," she says, and that's not what she was saying before, and when Parker looks up at Nate, he shrugs one shoulder with a smile.

Chapter 28

It took only a moment for Nate to put together the pieces as to why Eliot was here – the impatient phone call Sophie took before ordering pizza; Maggie's presence, in the morning; the snooping Hardison had done into Maggie's conference on his behalf; the way that Eliot had gotten here so quickly, almost as if he'd been waiting near-by for the signal that he was expected.

Looked like they were going to get their next job quicker than he thought.

"I brought brownies," Eliot told Parker, and Nate could see him opening up the container and stacking the small squares onto a plate. It had taken a little convincing to get Parker off his lap, but she was in the kitchen with Eliot now, invisible from behind the countertops.

Parker effectively distracted for the next few minutes, Sophie came by and sat down on the couch beside him. She left some distance between them, and he could appreciate her reluctance for overt intimacy in a team setting. Still, he could see the look of weary caution on her face; he could read the request there, not quite a plea.

"Try to get along, yeah?" she verbalized quietly, and he opened his mouth to say, _Not the problem here_. Before he could, Hardison opened the door without knocking, and Nate saw Sophie's haggard response despite the fact neither of them had said anything more.

But he did stand up, locking eyes with Hardison. There was resentment there, and frustration, and a little bit of hurt, but he nodded once, and Hardison looked away with resignation on his face, an acceptance of priorities. The young hacker was still at odds with him, but he wasn't going to let others suffer for it.

That reckoning would come soon, but not quite yet.

"Hey there, mama!" Any trace of the emotions Nate had seen in Hardison's voice disappeared as he greeted Parker, and when he lifted Parker up onto the countertop, Nate saw the genuine delight on Parker's face, and unabashed smile. "Eliot made brownies, huh?"

"Damnit, Hardison," Eliot growled, slapping away the hand that darted out to obtain a brownie – Parker giggled, and Sophie stood up beside Nate, clearing her throat.

"Boys," she chided fondly, and suddenly they slipped into that rhythm, that dynamic that had strung them all together in the first place; that had kept them together, even as they cycled through their various thieves.

Eliot, having emptied the container onto the plate, picked it up and came to the couch. Hardison reached forward to help Parker down from the counter, pulling her a little closer, using it as an excuse to hug her before setting her down. Parker, for her part, seemed confused but pleased by the affection. "You'd think he would learn some patience," Eliot grumbled, and Parker rounded the counter a beat after Hardison did – Sophie looked from Parker to Nate with a frown.

"Do you really think that Parker – "

Nate cut her off there. "She's fine," he told her, sitting down on the couch and reaching out to take one of the brownies from the plate that Eliot had placed on the table.

"But – "

"Nate?" This time it was Parker who cut Sophie off, and she looked up at Nate, uncertain, and he nodded,

"Come sit down. There's a little problem we have to figure out, but you can sit with us."

Sophie looked at him in protest, but Parker clambered onto the couch quickly enough that Sophie didn't have any choice but to relent. With a dissatisfied sigh, she sat down on the couch, keeping the distance between them.

Not enough distance for Parker, who snagged a brownie and then crawled onto Nate's lap, pushing her back up against his chest and facing the screen with adamant determination.

"Run it, Hardison" Nate said, and Hardison glanced at the both of them before complying.

The screens lit up with a few surveillance pictures, all of which featured the same man – Hardison took the floor and pointed to a picture of the man on a cell phone. "Looks like your average sleazy-Joe art fence, right?"

Parker tensed slightly, and Nate shifted so that his arm was pressed up against her – Sophie took the cue and gave a token nod, "Right."

"Wrong," Hardison corrected, smiling at Sophie and bowing his head slightly, to thank her for playing. Parker relaxed, leaning into Nate's arm now that she knew she wasn't expected to answer any questions. "He's actually a terribly inadequate sleazy-Joe art fence, who's managed to raise flags for the FBI in one of their open investigations. Sophie," Hardison said, turning, and pointing at her. "What do thieves look for in a good fence?"

Parker turned to look at her as well, interested.

Sophie threw a heedful look at Parker, sent a frown at Nate, and said, "Someone with contacts. Discretion. Established. Someone you can trust enough to be patient and yet ambitious." It wasn't the worst kind of criminal knowledge she could drop on Parker, but Sophie still looked bothered by it.

Hardison, however, was more than happy to hear it. "And you know what our guy lacks? All of those things. And then some. And then some more – Roger Gallagher here is the most notorious fence on the market right now, according to my underground contacts. The cross-reference check I ran on some security footage tagged him attempting to do some pretty skivvy things."

"But why is he there?" Nate asked, shifting Parker slightly so that he could lean forward a little, his mind already sifting through the information.

Parker turned a little to accommodate him, taking a small bit out of her brownie, and subsequently sprinkling it unintentionally onto her shirt as Hardison talked: "You would think that a known fence would stay away from a function that involved a slew of professional art experts. But Gallagher here is looking for someone to get into business with, so that he can expand his clientele. Branch out, so to speak."

"He's looking for forgers?" Sophie asked, appalled, and Hardison pointed at her with a sad nod,

"Right you are. Only, the feds think that a certain someone is involved," Hardison said as he turned, the screens now showing a different set of surveillance photographs – Maggie. "Especially after her little meeting with our very own," Hardison continued, clicking to the next slide – there was a clear picture of Nate and Maggie, and Nate could feel Parker stiffen. She wasn't visible from inside the car in the photograph, but there was no doubt when it had been taken.

"They think Maggie's going to Nate on behalf of Gallagher."

"And why wouldn't they?" Hardison asked, and the last picture of the screen was a close up of Maggie after Nate had pulled away, her hair blowing in the wind and smudge of what could be a tear running down her face.

Chapter 29

Parker had been through a meeting like this before, but this one was a lot more interesting. As Hardison talks, she watches the screens, fascinated by the pictures and the way that they seemed to shift and move in time to Hardison's speech.

This, she decides, she also likes. Sitting on the couches, Nate's warm arms wrapped around her, safe and protective, Sophie far enough away so that she didn't have to touch her, Hardison smiling at her and Eliot offering her more brownies.

"So what we need to do," Nate says, lifting her a little so that he can move out from under her. Parker squirms, but Nate stands, and so she grabs Bunny and leans back into the warm cushions instead. "What we need to do is case the conference center, and figure out what his angle is. See if we can find if there's anyone specific he's there for. Then we need to give him what he wants – someone who can forge a work of art, and someone who'd be wiling to buy it. Take Maggie out of the picture, and lead him to his grave."

Nate looks at Hardison, who nods. "Now, it doesn't look like he has a clear idea of what he wants, but Nate's right. He's in the market, and probably for one of these guys," Hardison says, standing up, and the screens jump to another couple pictures of paintings – the men in them look old and stuff, and Parker doesn't know who they are.

"Picasso, Michelangelo, Monet," Sophie says, standing up, and Parker watches her as she crosses over to the screen. Sophie smiles, pointing to a man. "_Marine_, by Monet was stolen in 2006 – it hasn't been recovered yet. Neither have some of those Picassos that were stolen from the Swiss…. There are dozens of paintings missing that were made by these three – anyone with the talent to make a decent forgery and a believable backstory might be able to convince the market that they're selling a genuine. But what makes you think Gallagher's targeting them specifically?" Sophie asks, and Hardison switches to another screen, this one with some kind of paper.

"What better place to find a buyer than a conference full of all the fan boys and girls? I mean," he says, holding his hand up, "It's one of the stupidest things you can do, but we're not dealing with Einstein here. There's a reason his case hasn't climbed higher than the FBI."

"So we play him," Nate says with a grin, sharing a look with Sophie. "What's the next thing on his schedule?" Nate asks, and Hardison pulls out his laptop, sitting on the couch beside Parker. Parker moves closer to him, watching his fingers flying over the keys as he pulls up a calendar onto the screen.

"He's got a 4 o'clock on Michelangelo and the Garden of Lorenzo de' Medici."

Parker doesn't want Hardison and Eliot to leave, not after they'd just gotten there. But Hardison snaps his laptop shut after Nate explains the plan, standing up and pausing when he notices that she's watching him.

"We'll be back," he promises her, and she pushes back against the couch, looking away from him. It's not fair, that they're leaving so quickly, and she tells herself that she doesn't care how quickly he makes it back.

At least Sophie's leaving too, and she takes her purse. They all put ear buds in their ears, and she tugs on Nate's sleeve when he comes back to the couch after everyone's gone.

"Can I have one?" she asks, and he looks like he's going to say no, so she adds, "Please?"

Nate looks at her for a minute, considering, and finally says, "But you have to take it out the second I say. And you need to stay quiet."

"Okay," Parker nods, and Nate goes to his desk, and comes back with an extra ear bud. It feels a big in her ear, but she puts it in anyway. No one's talking, and the urge to say something is strong, but she keeps quiet.

"I gave Parker a com," Nate says, and Parker can hear three different exhales, and then silence.

Hardison's the first one that talks. "_Am I gonna have to manufacture you a little tiny ear bud mama?_"

Parker shakes her head – the one Nate gave her works just fine. The idea of having her own was nice though, and the idea that she could talk to Hardison and Eliot whenever she wanted to was nice too.

"I hope that won't be necessary," Nate says, and Parker sits on the couch as he starts to pace. "What's your ETA to the conference center?"

"_Just a few more blocks away_," Sophie's voice says, and Parker can almost see her in the car, driving down a street on the way to one of the buildings that were in the photographs.

"_And we're right behind her_," Hardison says, and there's a second car trailing behind Sophie's, and it's Hardison's.

"Sophie, you're going to have to hook him. Convince him that you're looking for one of the stolen works, and you heard that it was in Boston. Something like…"

When Nate opens his mouth to give a name, Sophie's already answering, and he lets her say, "_Picasso's La Dame La Toilette_." Nate looks pleased for a second before he shakes it off.

"Right, like that," he says, and he looks at Parker with a weird look on his face. She hugs Bunny a little closer, pressing her mouth into his head so she didn't accidently say anything.

"_Draw him in nice and slow_," Sophie says, and Nate keeps pacing.

"_Makin' up the fake ID's as we speak – we've got Gladys Wayne, an avid paint collector from Scotland with a morally dubious reputation; we've got Jordan Short, one rough-and-tumble kid who's got an art portfolio like whoa, and his organized crime handler, Connor Johnson_."

"Eliot," Nate says, "You're going to have to hook him, let him know Hardison's there and available."

"_Ain't my first rodeo_," Eliot says in his not-cooking voice, and Parker doesn't like it. Nate doesn't seem to mind though, and he looks at the screens, even though there's nothing there.

"Do it before he meets Sophie," Nate says, and he picks up the remote that Hardison uses to make the screens do things. After a second, he puts it back down, and sits on the couch beside Parker. "Hardison, throw the building's blueprint up on the screens," he says, and Parker watches the screens, waiting for something to come up.

"_You realize I'm in a moving car, on a laptop, ten minutes away from where you are and making up fake ID's on the fly?_"

Nate looks over at Parker, and raises an eyebrow. "Are you saying you can't do it?" he asks, sounding like he knows that Hardison can do it.

There's a pause, and then Hardison mutters, "_Never said I couldn't do it_."

"Sophie," Nate says, and Hardison's still grumbling, but Parker can't hear what he's saying, "Make sure you let Maggie know what the plan is. We don't need her blowing our cover on this one."

"_Of course, that would be no problem at all._" Sophie's voice sounds funny, and Parker opens her mouth to ask why she sounds so funny – the screens get brighter and Nate stands up, and Parker remembers that she's not supposed to say anything. There're lines all over the screens, and squares and rectangles, and it takes Parker a moment to realize that it looks like rooms in a building.

"_We're going to be in Conference Room C1_," Hardison says, and Nate steps back to look at all of the lines.

"There," Nate says, pointing to the room, and Parker can see a tiny C1 inside the block. Which meant that this was the building where Hardison, Sophie, and Eliot were going to be in.

"_I've wired our GPS coordinates into the schematics I threw up for you, so you can tell where we are_," Hardison says. "_The video feeds are coming online in a few seconds – use the mouse on the coffee table and you can focus in on any camera feed by moving the cursor over it._"

Parker eyes the mouse on the coffee table, and when she looks up at Nate, he's watching her.

"_We got feds – we're gonna be parking around the corner,_" Eliot says, and there's a slamming that sounds like a car door.

Nate looks over at the window, silent, and Parker looks that way too, to see what he's looking at. But there's nothing there, so he must be thinking, and after a second he says, "Ignore them. They'll be waiting for something that'll sink Gallagher – Sophie, make sure they don't see you talking to Maggie. We don't need them to have more reason to suspect her."

"_Leave it man, come on, let's go_," Eliot growls, and Parker wonders who he's talking to until Hardison answers,

"_Alright, alrigh', I'm goin'. Just let me do one more…_"

"_Hardison, com' on_," Eliot growls again, and Nate looks at Parker, and she wonders if he's going to tell her to take the ear bud out.

Instead, he just points to the screen, "Parker, can you move the mouse to that camera?"

There's an icon of a video camera on the screen, and Parker moves down the cushion until she's close enough to the table to be able to move the mouse. Carefully she moves it, like she's seen Hardison do a hundred times, until it's over the icon that Nate pointed out – one screen in the bottom corner switches into what looks like a black and white television show.

There's a door, and people in a big room inside the door, and as Parker's looking at it, the door opens, and Sophie walks in.

"So-" she starts, surprised and excited, but Nate gives her a look that reminds her she's supposed to be quiet. She doesn't finish saying Sophie's name, and there's another car door slam as Hardison says,

"_The laptop's going to be keeping the feeds up for you – it should have enough juice to last the next few hours. You see what securities' seeing, and there's a panic button on the bottom left corner, just in case_."

Parker can see the button, but she doesn't move the mouse at all, still worried that Nate will tell her to take the ear bud out if she does anything else she's not supposed to do. She almost ruined everything already, and she doesn't want Nate to look at her like that again.

"_Hello, I'm Gladys Wayne, I'm representing Switzerland Connections_," Sophie says in her funny voice, and Nate says,

"Parker, pull that one up," and Parker moves the mouse over the camera Nate pointing at.

The image of the doors disappears, and now it's a bar, and Sophie's in the corner of it, talking to Maggie.

"_Oh_?" Parker hears through the com, and she thinks that it's Maggie talking. "_Gladys Wayne?_"

"_Yes, of course_," Sophie's funny voice says. "_I met a man the other day – on the corner of this grocery market? And would you believe it – someone was taking our photograph. Next thing you know, it's in the magazines, all over the newsstands, and I'm forced to walk around hoping no one recognizes my friends or I. It's a, how do you say, nightmare._"

Sophie's lying, and Parker doesn't know why. Maggie was here this morning, and Sophie didn't talk to her like that then…

Maggie seems to understand whatever it is that Sophie's saying, because Parker can see her nod on the screen, and hear her say, "_Oh. Right. Of course. Well – you know, those uh, magazines. Yeah, they can be a complete pain. But don't worry, I, didn't recognize you. Who did you say you were, again?_"

Parker frowns, wondering why they were pretending that they didn't know each other. Nate didn't look concerned, and Hardison and Eliot were having their own conversation…

"_Gladys, Gladys Wayne_," Sophie says, turning away from Maggie. "_Best not to be seen with certain people, though, in these circumstances, so I'll have to – excuse me…_" Sophie pointed somewhere off camera, and disappeared, and Maggie looked after her. The picture was too fuzzy to really see her face, but Parker wondered if Maggie was as confused as she was.

Chapter 30

It was going well so far… Nate tried to quell the gut feeling that told him it was going too well.

Eliot had already introduced himself to Gallagher, and indicated that he had an expert forger who was looking for a gig – Hardison was playing his part a little campy, but Eliot managed to make it work, and they'd sat through the conference with Gallagher glancing their way the entire time.

The lecture had been… less than intriguing, though he had no doubt that Sophie was finding it fascinating. Hardison pulled out his phone at one point and Eliot had snatched it away with a frown – but they played the part, and Maggie, who was sitting a couple seats away from them, hadn't looked at them once. Three little blinking dots on the screen sitting inside a box, putting in the hours.

The blueprint of the building fascinated Parker, and she had been exploring the various camera angles since the lecture started. Nate had given her free reign of the schematic, and she cycled through the various camera's, pausing on the ones that were focused on empty hallways. He wasn't quiet sure what she liked about those so much, but she was entertained and quiet, and it made him feel good to be keeping a revolving eye on security.

But he did take the mouse back once the lecture had ended, listening in as Sophie bumped into Gallagher, and started reeling him in.

"Be on the ready," he told Eliot and Hardison, and Parker watched the screen intently – but Sophie was on the edge of the frame, Gallagher a step away from her, in a blind spot.

"_So as you can see, I'm quiet the avid collector of Picasso's… here's my number – if you happen to come across some of his more… obscure pieces, make sure you give me a call._"

Nate ignored the prickle of annoyance as Sophie took Gallagher's hand, smiled flirtingly, and wrote her number on it.

"_I just might have something for you_," Gallagher said, and Nate could hear the greedy grin in his voice.

"Eliot, that's your cue," Nate said, and Eliot acknowledged him with a grunt. Three seconds later, he entered the frame from behind Sophie. Gallagher, as expected, jumped on the chance to catch him before he left.

"_Oh Mr. Johnson, a word, please…_"

Nate tuned out the conversation as Eliot disappeared from frame with the mark. "Heads up Sophie," he cautioned, seeing two feds entering the frame after Eliot.

"_Excuse me ma'am_," one of them said, holding out their badge, and Sophie sounded surprised as she said,

"_Is there a problem, officers?_"

Nate waited as the feds gave Sophie all the information they needed to make the con work – when Gallagher tried to deliver the fake, he'd be stopped by the feds, who'd be acting on a not-so anonymous tip. True, the painting wouldn't be authentic, but all they needed was cause to search his premises, and the painting would provide them with that.

"_What're you lookin' at?_" Hardison said, and Nate moved to another feed to see if he could see what Hardison was talking about. There was the edge of a hallway that featured Hardison's shoulder – Nate frowned, annoyed that he couldn't get a better picture.

There was a muffled sound, and then Hardison was saying, "_Nah, man, you ain't got nothin' on me_."

"_Jordan Short?_" someone asked, and Hardison's voice went up a notch, stepping back until his back was in the frame,

"_Nah, man, you thinkin' of some other black guy. Like that guy over there – we don't all look the same, you know?!_"

Hardison took another step back, and now Nate could see a man in a baseball hat grabbing Hardison's arm, and pulling them both out of frame.

"_Hey, where you takin' me?!_" Hardison asked, panicking, and Nate stood up – baseball hat had Hardison and was taking him… somewhere. There was a sharp intake of air a second before Hardison spluttered out in pain –

"Eliot," Nate started, but the man answered instantly with,

"_I'm on it_."

The dot that represented Hardison started moving down the hall, and Parker's hand touched his pant leg. She still had her com in, he realized, and he held out his hand. "Take it out, Parker," he told her, and she looked at him with wide eyes, but he shook his head. "No – take it out. I'll give it back soon."

She was confused, and concerned, and there was a little fear laced in the reproached look she fixed Nate with as she pulled the ear bud out and put it in his open hand. There was no way he wanted her to hear the fight that was going to happen between Eliot and the man that took Hardison – while they usually didn't last very long, they had the tendency to start sounding very violent, very quickly.

"Nate, is Hardison okay?" Parker asked softly, and Nate realized that she'd only been quiet for so long because he'd told her not to talk on the coms.

Nate sat down beside her, listening to Eliot beating the shit out of the stranger, and watching the two blinking dots on the screen. "He's just fine," Nate told her, putting a hand on her back and she shifted until her side was pressed against him, eyes fixed on the screen.

"_I got Gallagher's number – what do you want us to do Nate? This guy is a mid-entry thug, but he's bound to have pals with him. I think they're Gallagher's._"

Hardison, now saved, didn't have any problem voicing his indignation: "_Dude had a knife at my neck! A knife!_"

Moving the cursor to the camera nearest Eliot and Hardison, Nate pulled up a hallway shot. Parker perked up when she saw the screen come to life, Hardison in frame patting down his neck, and Eliot stepping out into the hallway.

"Nate," Parker said eagerly, making sure he saw that they were on the screen, and unharmed. The ear bud he passed back to her – the goal was to get them out without needing to take anyone else down, but now that Hardison was safe, Eliot would be trying for stealth instead of damage.

"_They brought me in from down there_," Hardison was saying, and Eliot shook his head, pulling Hardison back by the shirt and pushing him the other way,

"_The way out is this way. Trust me. Nate, what's the plan_?" Eliot asked again, sounding more irritated, and he growled when Hardison tried to go the opposite way once again, grabbing hold of his arm.

Hardison tried to shake him off, but Nate could imagine how tight Eliot's grip was. "_Man, let off. It's this way!_"

"Stop it you two," Nate said loudly, interrupting Eliot's retort, and he scanned the blueprints on the screen. They needed to exit somewhere inconspicuous, and he needed to figure out why someone had come after Hardison. He mapped the route, tracing it out on the screen absently with his finger. "There," he said, poking it, turning away and pressing the com into his ear so there was no way they could miss what he said next: "I found a way out for you guys. Sophie, go talk to Gallagher – see if he has a scheme up his sleeve. Eliot, Hardison, go down the west hall and then…"

When he looked up at the screens next, they were blank. "Uh, Hardison, what's going on?"

"_What do you mean, 'What's going on'? What is going on?_" The hacker sounded frustrated, but he wasn't as frustrated as Nate was at that second. He tried hitting the side of the screens with the palm of his hand, but nothing happened.

Gesturing to the screens, even though he knew Hardison wouldn't be able to see, he said: "The screens. Everything just – it all disappeared. Parker, move the mouse," he told her, glancing back to make sure she was doing it.

Nothing.

"_What's our exit, Nate?_" Eliot growled, tense, and Nate closed his eyes, trying to bring the image back in his mind. As long as could keep a clear picture in his mind… "_Nate?!_"

"Hold on, hold on!" The talking wasn't helping any, and he needed to remember – they were supposed to go west, and then take the third turn north, and then they'd be… The lines of the building were blurring and blending into one another and he shook his head, frustrated. It was time for a new plan. "Okay," he started, improvising furiously, but then Parker interrupted him, and he couldn't help but think he didn't hear what she said properly.

"Left," is what she had said, meekly, and when he turned to look at her she winced, clearly worried she'd done something wrong. "It's left," she told him, fear in her voice, shrinking back a little, but looking determined. "The… way they need to go. Left."

"You remember the layout of the building?" Nate asked bluntly, pointing at the now blank screen and Parker nodded, squeezing the stuffing out of her rabbit.

"_How does she know that?_" Hardison asked, but Nate was thinking about the way she was looking at the schematics before, cycling through the cameras, fascinated with the empty hallways… not fascinated, no. She'd been memorizing the layout of the building.

"Go left," Nate told them; it wasn't outside the realm of possibility that Parker had the entire layout memorized, and knew exactly where Eliot and Hardison were. Going through the camera's would've given her the chance to see what represented walls, doors…

She probably didn't understand most of what the different symbols meant on the blueprints, but she did know what the hallways looked like. And she had seen him working through the route they needed to take. "We need them to take a side door – the one where my finger ended up. Remember where that is?" Parker nodded her head, looking at the screen, thinking. Using the screen as a memory trigger, tracing the picture in her mind out onto it. "So what's next?"

Nate could almost hear Sophie questioning his sanity in trusting a child's memory, and if Parker had any idea of the caliber of what he was asking her to do, he would question it too. But he imagined this was a puzzle to her; one she'd memorized all the different answers too during an hour-long lecture on dead people art. One he'd shown her the right answer to not minutes ago.

Her eyes narrowed and her lips pressed together – she was remembering, and after a second she said, "Past two turns and then right."

There was silence, and Nate hoped that he was right about Parker. "You heard her – third hallway, it'll be on the right."

Eliot and Hardison were on the move, and Nate looked at Parker, nodding at her encouragingly. He gave her a smile, premature but proud; it was the one that had made her almost melt on the playground, and she looked confused for a moment, before looking back at the screen.

"And then there's a… a bigger room, through a door."

"_We're here Parker – which way do we want?_"

Parker opened her mouth, but Nate could tell she was having trouble figuring out how to explain it. "The one in the corner," she said finally, looking nervously up at Nate.

Eliot, thankfully, answered for him, patient and calm. "_Parker, if I just came through the last door, is it to my right, or to the left?_"

"To the… right," Parker said, turning her head, frowning as she visualized it. "But then there's two doors."

"_I'm looking at them right now – which one, darlin'?_"

"Left," Parker said, and she, pointing at the screen, at where the boys would be if the map was still up, "And then there's a hallway with only one door, and lines across from it, and you go through the door and that's the back of the building."

"Sophie, can you swing by the west side of the building and get Hardison and Eliot to their car? They're coming out hot. Make sure no one sees you."

"_Thank you Mr. Gallagher, it's been an absolutely pleasure meeting you_," Sophie said, and Nate knew she was on the way to pick them up.

Everyone stayed quiet, and Nate waited until they were safe and heading back before he took his com out. He didn't want to hear what Eliot and Hardison would start to say in the safety of their car, and he didn't want to hear what Sophie might accidently mutter to herself on the way back.

He could just imagine the thoughts running through their heads – Sophie had been right. Parker was a born-thief, and they'd just seen her potential to be more than just a common pickpocket. So was it his job to make sure she reached her full potential? Or was he supposed to make sure she never ended up like any of them?

Chapter 31

"I'm sorry," Parker says when Nate takes his ear bud out, and she takes hers out too, because she knows that she wasn't supposed to be talking. But she wanted to help, and she knew where they were supposed to go, and Nate hadn't seemed upset at the time, but now he was going back and forth in front of the screens, his arms crossed. "I'll be better," she mutters when he doesn't answer, and that makes him stop walking.

Parker feels the cushions press against her back as he comes closer, and she's only a little worried that he's going to get mad at her. He didn't get mad when she broke Sophie's lamp, and he didn't get mad when she was bad at the store, and he never does – but it feels like her body doesn't care. It just moves away, jerking, taking Bunny with her, and when Nate reaches for her hand she pulls it away without even thinking. Then she does think, and she feels silly, and she carefully moves her hand to touch Nate's, because maybe he doesn't want to touch her hand anymore? And maybe he just wants to hurt her.

But instead of hurting her, he wraps his fingers around her hand, big and strong, and she pushes herself off the couch so that she can hug him. He lets go of her hand so that she can put her arms around his neck, and he holds her and gets up, and then they're on the couch, and he's holding her. "That was amazing Parker," he tells her in a whisper, hugging her as much as she hugs him, and she doesn't know what to do, or what to say.

No one's ever told her that something she could do was amazing – and she doesn't even know what she did. But she's too scared to ask what it was, in case Nate realizes it wasn't really, and he wants to take it back. "You're not mad?" she asks softly, scared that if she says it, he magically will be.

But Nate shakes his head, pulling away, and she lets him go, and she can see that he's smiling. "Not mad, no. Just… conflicted."

Conflicted doesn't sound so good, so she pulls Bunny up against her and presses herself back against Nate, worried. Did that mean that everyone else was going to be mad at her? And that Nate didn't want to be, but would have to be? He did tell her to stay quiet, and Eliot hadn't seemed very happy when she was talking… conflicted is never a good word.

"I'm sorry," she whispers again, pressing her head against his chest, trying to make herself smaller, trying to hide and not be there anymore and just disappear.

Nate tries to make her lift her face, but she won't, so he says, "Parker, it was good what you did. Helping Eliot and Hardison out like that. How did you even… do you even know what you did?"

Parker shakes her head; if it was so good, what she did, why was Nate conflicted? And she didn't even know what she did anyways, that was good, and she just hopes that whatever it is, no one's going to get mad at her. And when she thinks of Eliot and Hardison and even Sophie coming back and getting mad at her too… it makes her feel sick.

"Parker," Nate says patiently, and she looks up at him because he sounds like he's serious, and it feels like she has to look at him. "Not everyone can see something once and be able to remember it like that. You were watching me when I figured out where they had to go, and you memorized that."

Parker frowns, looking down at Bunny's limp ears, and understanding how they must feel, all sad and droopy like that. "Can't everyone do that?" she asks quietly, hoping that she isn't accidently saying anything bad about Nate. Nate could do that too, couldn't he? He could do anything.

There's a warm sound in Nate's chest, and she looks up to see him smiling. "Not really, no. Not everyone could do it – I could, but even I would have more trouble than you did."

That sounds good. It makes her own chest feel a little warm; it makes her happy to think that Nate's glad she can do something that maybe he can't as well. It's always been a bad thing, being better than someone else, but Nate is making it sound like it's good. And she starts to believe him that no one's going to get mad at her – like maybe it really was something good? "You're not mad?" she asks, trying to understand, and he smiles at her.

"I'm not mad at all. Just… surprised. And conflicted."

There was that word again – conflicted. She isn't sure what it means, but she's happy just sitting there, curled up on Nate's lap, pretending like it can mean something good.

Chapter 32

"Parker, I need you to go upstairs with Eliot." Parker's reaction was painfully predictable, though Eliot looked a little surprised and suspicious. Nate nodded at him, reassuring him that he had, in fact, thought this out. Eliot still looked a little reserved as he came up – Hardison huffed and moved into the kitchen; Sophie sat down on the arm of the couch, staying quiet.

Parker was shaking her head, and Nate nodded over it at Eliot.

"Com'on darlin'," Eliot… cooed, glaring when Nate rose his eyebrows. He mouthed something belligerent like 'You _want_ my help?', before moving a little closer, putting a hand on Parker's back.

The little hands in his shirt tightened, but Parker did reluctantly look back at Eliot. The smile that he gave her was rare, open and honest, genuinely caring. "Go on," he told Parker gently, coaxing her instead of forcing her, and it seemed to work.

With one last look up at Nate, Parker released her grip around his neck and leaned back into Eliot, who scooped her up with one arm like she weight no more than a pound of sugar. Head resting on Eliot's shoulder, and the rabbit squeezed tightly under her chin, she let her eyes move from Nate, to Sophie, to Hardison.

Sophie smiled at her gently, reassuringly, and Hardison lifted a hand in greeting. Parker twisted around so that she could watch them as Eliot took her up the stairs, his free hand against her back, muttering quietly to her.

Once they'd disappeared, Nate looked between the remaining two, and clapped his hands once when he realized there was no way to get into the conversation other than being blunt.

Thankfully, Sophie didn't seem to think so, and she stood up to look between the both of them: "So that was interesting."

"Understatement of the year," Hardison muttered from the kitchen, his eyes dark and his arms folded across his chest, looking determined. Nate was sure he was still smarting after their fallout in the kitchen, but he wasn't sure what his end goal was. The way he was presenting himself definitely suggested he had a pretty solid one. They looked at one another for a few seconds, both gazes steady.

Sophie, however, was determined to keep the conversation moving. "What was Parker doing on the com's anyways, Nate?" she asked, the accusation clear in her voice.

Nate moved around the side of the couch, into the middle space, keeping his voice low so that Parker wouldn't be able to overhear. "It was a recon job Sophie," he reminded her, and they both knew that it was supposed to be low risk. "She has eyes, and she has ears, and she has a brain. She knows what we do, and eventually she's going to figure out how we do it. If we don't make her a part of it then she'll make herself a part of it."

"You know how hard it is to sit with her when she can't hear nothing?" Hardison added, and Nate nodded, because that was a very good point.

Sophie came around the other side of the couch, patiently, calmly, entirely too composed _not _to think they were all just being idiots who needed to be explained exactly what the problem was, so they could agree with her. "Parker is a young, impressionable child. We shouldn't be exposing her to things like this. Not at her age. Not when she doesn't have a choice in the matter."

There was something in Sophie's voice that caught Nate's attention, and he couldn't help but wonder how exactly Sophie got her start in grifting. Hardison was easy to figure out, Eliot was intentionally and eerily mysterious, Nate himself was an open book, but Sophie? Sophie was still a mystery.

Sophie realized what he was thinking, realized what she had said, and frowned at him. Frowned at him even as she retreated, slipping into character, slipping on her mask – slipping away into someone else's life.

"We didn't turn out half bad," Hardison said quietly after the moment passed, and Nate looked over at him surprised, wondering if he was referring to their crew, or referring to his foster family.

Sophie shook her head, "You're an adult, Hardison, that's the difference."

"Yeah, but I wasn't always. And I wasn't always in it for the helpless guys either. None of us were. And Parker? She's one of those helpless guys." Hardison was very pointedly not looking at Nate as he said it, his face softening a little.

The vulnerable tone was gone from Sophie as she engaged Hardison: "She's, what, six? And maybe she had to do all that to survive, but she doesn't anymore. Parker is here now, and she shouldn't have to worry about any of this. She should get to have a childhood, play with friends her age and have fun. Have a proper life. She shouldn't have to sit on a couch and learn how to con people."

"We can't cut her out Sophie. That's not going to help anyone. Hardison?" he asked, extending the question for his confirmation. A truce of sorts, the closest thing to an apology that Nate could give him.

"We teach her to be one of the good guys," Hardison agreed, eyes finally flickering over to Nate, who gave him a quick smile. Hardison didn't respond to it, but Nate knew that they could move past it now.

Sophie had a protest for that all lined up already, and she opened her mouth: "And when Parker gets –"

"We teach her how to not get caught," Nate interrupted, and he knew they could do that. She was already halfway there; Parker already had the talent, and all she needed now was the knowledge and the discipline.

Sophie looked at him dubiously, "And that's a risk you're willing to take? Parker going to jail when she's older; being taken away you now?"

"If we don't, she's just going to go off on her own and learn from trial and error. And _that's_ a risk I'm not willing to take." It was in her eyes, that quick intelligence, the sharp insight, that instinct and drive. Life had already given Parker a path, and they could either help her along it, or abandon her to navigate on her own.

"And nobody ain't ever gonna challenge the ID I made up for her." The force behind Hardison's words made Nate wonder what exactly he'd done to cement Parker in the system as his adoptive daughter, and what lengths he'd gone through in order to do it. And what kind of backstory he should know about, in case any of the wrong people started asking.

They were starting to bring Sophie around, Nate could tell, and he knew it was as much for their benefit as hers. They needed to talk this through, figure it out. "We never put Parker in any danger." That was going to be an important one, and Hardison nodded as Sophie rolled her eyes,

"Well obviously," she stated, and it sounded like they were on the 'boys are stupid' bus. "But your plans don't always go accordingly – we're in a risky business Nate. Things happen. Things no one can predict. So I say that Parker doesn't go on jobs with us. Watching from here? Maybe. But she does not work on the jobs."

Nate had been debating what it would look like, getting Parker involved in a job, and Sophie's adamant refusal cemented his feelings. "No jobs," he agreed, and when he looked over at Hardison, the hacker nodded. There was no doubt what Eliot's answer would be.

"We make sure to teach her proper, and keep her away from anything that could be dangerous." By the look on Sophie's face, Nate could imagine just how long she thought that would last. "Maybe it'll last a couple years, keeping Parker on the sidelines… But what happens when she grows up? Gets ambitious and grows more confident? What happens when she wants in on a job so badly that it jeopardizes everything?"

It was going to happen, there was no way it wasn't. "We'll deal with that part later," Nate said, because it was the only thing he could say.

"You're responsible for making her decisions for her now Nate," Sophie told him in a low voice, "You have to make sure you're doing what's best for her."

And someone, somewhere along the way in Sophie's life had neglected to do so for her, in some sense or capacity. It might not have been a straight out con, but there was definitely something below the surface there, and it was definitely starting to come out. Nate couldn't go back and change things for Sophie, but he could sure as hell make sure that they turned out alright for Parker.

Chapter 33

Eliot sits down on the bed and moves his arm so that Parker's sitting on his lap – she can slide out of his arms now, but even though she wants to… she doesn't want to at the same time. Right now he's warm and solid, and _there_, and she doesn't want to be alone.

Stubbornly, she presses her face against his neck, hiding away from the world. They already made her let go of Nate today, and she doesn't want to let go of anyone else.

"What you did was good, Parker," Eliot tells her quietly, holding her a little closer when she doesn't get off him, and she curls up around Bunny on his lap, leaning against him and letting him hold her.

"He's mad," she can't help but say, and Eliot shakes his head, laughing a little, and she looks up at him confused – this isn't funny, not at all, and she doesn't understand why he's laughing.

Eliot hugs her close, shifting back on the bed until he's leaning against the headboard and holding her against his chest. "He's impressed as all hell, that's what he is," Eliot tells her, and she doesn't want to believe him, because she'd seen that smile Nate gave her at the playground, and it wasn't the same. It didn't feel the same. This time, it was _conflicted_.

Eliot rubs her back, and she can feel herself relaxing a little, stretching out just a bit against his chest. "I ain't kidding. You're amazing Parker, and he just doesn't know how to… do what's right for you."

Parker doesn't really know what that means, so she doesn't say anything, doesn't argue. Nate takes care of her, and that means that he can do whatever he wants to do. There isn't a right and a wrong. And if there was - Nate doesn't make her do things that she doesn't want to do, and that was right, wasn't it? He smiles at her and cares for her and didn't get mad at her when she tried to steal his wallet, and wasn't all that the right thing to do for her? Only now he was feeling conflicted, and Parker doesn't know what that means, and it sounds like Eliot doesn't either.

Eliot just doesn't understand, and she pushes her legs out a little bit so she's more comfortable, lying on top of him, leaning back against his arm, holding Bunny in her own arms.

Eliot doesn't say anything more, and for a while Parker stays like that, hearing Eliot's heartbeat and wishing it was Nate's. She can hear Nate's voice sometimes, but she doesn't know what he was saying. Sometimes she can hear Sophie's voice too, but she can't hear Hardison's at all. They're talking about her, about what had happened, and she tries not to think about what that means.

The morning seems like it happened ages ago – Maggie, the park, Sophie sitting next to Nate, Hardison's computer show, everyone leaving, the cameras and the map of the building, Hardison getting… hurt, and Eliot saving him.

"Eliot," she says quietly into Bunny's ears, not looking up at him.

Eliot takes a deep breath, and pulls her up a little higher as he shifts a bit against the headboard. "Yeah darlin'?" he asks, his voice deep and slow.

Parker tugs on Bunny's ear, a little nervous that Eliot will get mad at her question. She doesn't think so, but she's never been really good at telling what makes people upset. "Do you hurt people?"

Eliot moves his head down so he can look at her, she can feel it in the way that his muscles move around her. Parker can feel herself getting worried, and she hugs Bunny a little closer to her, hoping that if Eliot does want to get mad at her, it won't be too bad.

"Yeah," Eliot says, and he sits up a little straighter and in a second he's moved Parker so that she's sitting on his lap, facing him, looking up at him. Parker doesn't know how he managed to do it, but his hands are on her arms, and he's looking into her eyes and she wants to lean back and move away, but she can't stop looking back at him. "That's what I do Parker – I hurt people. But I only hurt bad guys."

Parker nods, because she doesn't think she falls into the 'bad guys' category. "Like those people who wanted to hurt Hardison?"

"Yeah, Parker," Eliot nods, and he looks like he wants to say something else, but he doesn't. "Just like those people. And that includes anyone who'd ever want to hurt you, or Sophie, or Nate. It's my job to protect you guys, and that's what I do."

"Okay," Parker says softly, looking down at his arm, and she touches a bruise that's just starting to come. "Is that why you have bruises?" she asks.

"Yeah," Eliot answers, pulling her in closer so he's hugging her again. Eliot's never hugged her like this, and after a second Parker realizes that she doesn't mind it. "I get bruises protecting you guys – and that's my job, not yours."

The way he says it makes her remember wanting to steal the pocketknife from the store, and she frowns, feeling guilty. "But then you get hurt," she frowns, because that's not good either.

Eliot shakes his head, "But I don't get hurt Parker, not like you think."

There's only one kind of hurt that Parker knows, so she doesn't understand what he means. "It doesn't hurt?" she asks, thinking that maybe he's like one of those people from the cartoons that she watches with Hardison. That he's just invincible.

For a moment Eliot looks at her, thinking. "Parker, have you ever been hurt by something that happened to someone else?" he asks, and Parker thinks it's a really weird question. And then she suddenly remembers a bike, and a car, and people screaming and yelling, and sirens, and she can feel herself starting to shake, and she pushes her face into Eliot's shirt so that he can't see her crying. So that he can't see what she's thinking, so that he won't hate her.

"Hey, Parker, darlin'," he mutters, his voice right by her ear, but she shakes her head and pulls on his shirt harder – if he knew, he would hate her, and he would leave her and he wouldn't cook for her anymore, and he would lock her outside until someone came to take her away. "Parker, look at me," Eliot says, his voice even quieter, even nicer, gentle and kind, but she knows that if he knew what she'd done, if he knew what'd happened, he wouldn't want to protect her anymore. "Com'on Parker," he whispers, but she just shakes her head.

"I'm never gonna hurt you Parker," he tells her, but he would if he knew. Parker knows that he would – because she'd been bad, really bad, and that meant she deserved it. Deserved everything. "And I'm never going to let anyone hurt you."

Eliot keeps talking to her, but she doesn't answer him. All she can think about is what Nate would do if he found out, what any of them would do. She doesn't want to get locked out again, get ignored and forgotten. She doesn't want to go back to the terrible places she'd run away from. They didn't know, and they never had to know.

Chapter 34

Something had happened upstairs between Eliot and Parker – and apparently, it wasn't just something that Eliot had done to her. She refused to look up from Eliot's shoulder when they came downstairs – she barely looked up when Nate touched her back and lifted her from Eliot's arms.

"What'd you do?" he muttered lightly to Eliot, more bemused than anything as her arms snaked around his neck faster than he could pick up her weight.

Eliot shook his head, confused and concerned, and Nate refrained from asking him to elaborate. Obviously this was about another thing that was going on, not just this thing they were dealing with now.

"Parker?" he asked quietly, turning his head as far down as he could so that maybe he could see her face. But she shook her head and tightened her grip in his shirt – Eliot was still holding onto her rabbit, and that meant that something was seriously wrong. But right now, he had to figure out the rest of the plan, so he hitched her up a little and looked around at the little circle his team had formed.

"Okay," he said, looking at Sophie, "What we need to do, is we need to run the Mona Lisa scam." Parker's weight shifted in his arms, and he gathered that she was interested in it. That much was promising. "Hardison, find us some fake paintings. Eliot, I need you to go to Gallagher and throw some weight around – let him know he better have you as the supplier, or else he's going down. Let him know you weren't pleased that he tried jumping Hardison. Sophie, let him know that you might have some other interested buyers, get him to guarantee to sell to you. We let him know there's a market out there and there's no way he's going to let all that money go." The con didn't require a thief, thankfully – right now, with all the drama, he'd prefer to keep it in the family, so to speak. No point in getting anyone else involved.

"And Maggie?" Sophie asked.

Nate shook his head: "Keep her out of it for now. The less she knows, the better." And he could almost hear her echoing the statement – at least he had one straight… acquaintance in his life. One he didn't want to see in any capacity right now, but she was there nonetheless. Even Sophie didn't question it, and she lingered as Eliot and Hardison left the apartment.

Sophie looked at Parker, and up at Nate – she didn't know what Eliot might have said to Parker either, and she came forward, pressing against Nate's side. "Say Parker," she said softly, and Nate felt Parker's head turn half an inch, probably so that she could see what Sophie wanted. Nate was interested too; Sophie's voice promised something good, like a child being con'd to eat dinner on a blistering hot day with the promise of ice cream at the end. "I've got something for you, do you remember?"

There was a pause, and Parker shook her head. Nate raised his eyebrows, wondering what exactly Sophie might have gotten her. Hopefully not more clothes, he was starting to run out of space in his closet.

Sophie rolled her eyes at his thought and stepped in through the door that led to the guest room. For a few seconds Nate stood in the middle of the room, Parker growing heavy in his arms. He shifted her slightly, and her legs tightened around his waist – she wasn't ready to go anywhere yet, and he pulled her closer to reassure her that he wasn't trying to get rid of her.

When the door opened again, Sophie was holding a bag from one of the toy stores in the mall, and Nate couldn't help but look at her quizzically. She'd been hiding a toy in the spare room?

"Remember this Parker?" Sophie asked, rustling the bag, and that was enough to get Parker curious enough to turn her head and peek a look, her head pressed against Nate's jaw. Her grip slacked a touch in her confusion, and Nate could see it in Sophie's face as she said: "Come on then, I promised you could have it, didn't I?"

He could only imagine the look of suspicion on Parker's face, but since she was holding onto him, there was nothing that stopped him from bringing her closer. "When'd you get that?" he asked, curious, and Sophie smiled at Parker,

"I noticed that Parker liked it when we went to the mall, so I picked it up for her later." There's a pitch to Sophie's voice that makes Nate think that isn't exactly what happened, but there's only one of Parker's arms around his neck now, so he takes it as a fair trade.

"That's really cool – what is it?" Nate asked, playing along and hoping that it'll bring Parker out of her bubble.

Sophie sat down on the couch beside them, and Parker twisting and shifting her legs until she was sitting sideways on Nate's lap. Still hiding, but she wasn't wrapped around him anymore, and she was watching Sophie with cautious curiosity. "Want to tell Nate what it does, Parker?" Sophie asked, and Parker opened her mouth before remembering that she didn't want to speak, and shaking her head.

Nate was more than capable of keeping the conversational ball rolling, and he asked, "What is it?" as Sophie took it out of the box – it was some sort of 3D maze in a clear plastic ball. Something was rattling inside of it, and Nate guessed it was a ball bearing.

"It's a little maze, isn't it Parker," Sophie said, and though it should've sounded irritating, her con was kid-focused, and it was working.

Parker's hand twitched, and Sophie held the ball out to her. "Why don't you show us how it works?" Nate said, taking the ball from Sophie and bringing it even closer. Parker looked at it, one hand tightening on her rabbit.

"I wasn't bad?" she finally whispered to Sophie in confusion, incomprehension on her face.

Sophie shifted a little closer, and Parker didn't move away. "No Parker, you weren't bad." Sophie lifted her hand up, brushing aside a few stray strands of Parker's bangs. Parker watched the hand suspiciously but she didn't move away or lean back, and Nate watched the two of them, fascinated.

"The toy's yours, remember? It doesn't matter what happened before, it doesn't matter what anyone else's said. That there is yours." It was the classic vague conversation, the kind that grifters used to let their marks fill in the blanks and create their own ID. Only, this was about something that had happened before, probably at the mall, and Nate was curious. Now wasn't the time to ask, but he was going to see what he could get out of Sophie later.

Carefully, Parker took the ball, hugging it against her chest and falling back against Nate's. "Say thank you," Nate prompted, automatically, the words out of his mouth before he even realized he was saying them. It was an old instinct, and it took him off guard; almost as much as when Parker muttered:

"Thanks," not sounding like a robot for once.

"I've got to a few errands to run," Sophie said, putting her arm up on the couch to look more open and engaged – it also put her hand in the vicinity of Nate's shoulder, and he smiled at her as she squeezed it gently. "When I come back, you can show me how that ball works, deal?"

Parker looked away for a moment, and then nodded her head. Nate lifted his eyebrows, impressed, and Sophie smiled warmly at him. "I'll see you later, yeah?" Sophie asked, and Nate nodded, wanting to get up and show her to the door, but he didn't want to unseat Parker.

With a parting squeeze on his shoulder, Sophie got up and left the apartment with a quiet click of the door.

"Hey," he said softly, and Parker's head shifting slightly against his chest – she was exhausted, and he didn't want to bring back whatever emotions Eliot had caused to come out. "Want something to eat?" he asked, and she shook her head, clutching her ball and her rabbit as she tucked her legs closer to herself.

Nate sighed, wondering if she would be sleeping in the next five minutes. Everyone had an assignment, and the plan was in motion, so there was nothing more for him to do. There were lots of things he could occupy his time with, but he didn't really want to give up having Parker on his lap, sated and resting. Pressing a kiss onto the top of her head, he leaned back against the couch and wondered what they could do if Gallagher didn't pick up on Sophie's hint.

Chapter 35

Parker stares at the ball in her hand, and she's not sure how long it's been since everyone left, but she's pretty sure that Nate's sleeping. But she doesn't want to move, and if Nate's sleeping, then he isn't going to try and move her anywhere. If Nate's sleeping, then he can't magically figure out how bad she's been.

But she can't stop staring at the ball, because Sophie had given it to her. After everything that happened, all the times she'd been bad, Sophie had still given her the ball. And told her that she wasn't bad. And Sophie said that what happened before didn't matter. And Nate agreed, and now he was sleeping, and he didn't seem like he minded. So maybe… they didn't care how bad she'd been before?

Parker would never tell them, but Sophie said it didn't matter anyway. Parker stares at the little ball inside the ball maze, focusing on that, so she doesn't remember what happened before. She doesn't want to remember, she doesn't want to remember how it looked, or what happened after, or all the places she'd been before here – she was here now, and Nate was holding her, and Sophie said that she was okay, and Eliot said he would protect her no matter what, and Hardison had made her a fake ID and they all _wanted _her here, and it didn't matter if she'd been bad before.

Carefully she tilts the plastic ball until the little metal ball inside lands on one of the pathways. It only rolls a little bit before it falls off the pathway, and Parker frowns. The next time it gets a little further, and the next time even further, and she almost has it in the middle when the door opens and surprises her.

The puzzle ball falls to the ground and Nate jerks awake – there are two voices at the door, one familiar and one not, and Parker panics and tries to slide off Nate. His arms wrap around her body and pull her close and she lets him.

"That's all I'm saying," Sophie says as she enters the apartment and Parker twists around in Nate's arms to see who's with her. She shrinks into Nate when she sees that it's Maggie, but Nate's sitting up and Parker can't help but think that this isn't good.

The puzzle ball is still on the ground though, and Parker squirms out of Nate's arms and onto the ground so she can go get it. Nate's already standing when she picks up the ball, and he holds his hands up and says, "I can explain."

"Please, do," Maggie answers, and Parker wonders what he has to explain, and why Maggie's here.

Nate puts his hand on Parker's shoulder as he walks past, stopping for a second. "Stay with Sophie, alright?" Nate says, and Parker nods, still not sure why Maggie's here. He looks up at Sophie when he says, "I'll be back."

Parker leans against the couch as he passes, and watches as he touches Maggie's arm for a second, and then they're gone, right back out the door.

Suddenly she's alone in the room with Sophie, Bunny on the couch and the puzzle ball in her hands.

"Show me how that works, yeah?" Sophie says and Parker gets back on the couch as Sophie comes over and sits down on the opposite end of the couch.

Sophie had given her the puzzle ball – Sophie had said that she hadn't been bad. And that it didn't matter what had happened before. But Parker's not sure if Sophie had been lying or not, but she knows that she really, really doesn't want Sophie to have been lying.

But if she had been lying, now was going to be the time when Sophie did get angry with her. Nate was gone, and they were all alone, and Nate wasn't going to be coming back for a while.

After a few seconds, Sophie smiles at her. "Come on then," she says, putting a leg up on the couch and tucking her foot under her other leg, "Over here with you, and show me what that neat little ball of yours does."

Parker wants to go over, wants to sit by Sophie, wants Sophie to be nice. "You're not mad?" Parker asks quietly, wanting to make sure that Sophie's not lying, and that she won't change her mind.

"Why would I be mad, love?" Sophie asks, and Parker shrugs, looking over at the door. "I want us all to be friends, Parker," Sophie says, even though Parker hasn't said anything about Nate, or not liking Sophie, or anything. "I'm not trying to take you away from Nate, believe me when I say that. I'm just… trying to make everyone happy. And that bloody well never succeeds, but, maybe we can be friends, yeah? You and me? What do you think about that?"

Parker wonders if Sophie's a mind reader like Nate. But it makes Parker think that Sophie isn't lying – that Sophie is just nice, like Nate and Eliot and Hardison, but just a different kind of nice. "Okay," Parker says quietly, and she takes Bunny in one hand and the puzzle ball under her other arm.

She sits down beside Sophie, setting Bunny down on her lap. After a second she shifts, leaning against Sophie's side, and Sophie puts her arm up on the couch, and it's easy to just fall into the space against Sophie's side and the couch.

"There's a little metal ball," she says, wondering why the warmth at her back feels so reassuring and comfortable. "And you don't want to make it fall." It's a little harder when she goes through the maze while she's trying to let Sophie see, but that's okay. It feels nice to be sharing this with someone, and it feels nice to have Sophie against her back.

Chapter 36

Maggie wasn't thrilled, but she understood. The FBI, Gallagher – she didn't want to hear anything after that, and Nate didn't tell her. The giant, trombone-playing elephant in the room was Parker, and Nate carefully avoided breeching that subject. It still wasn't something he wanted to talk about with anyone, least of all Maggie. Oddly, the only mention he got was when Maggie left, leaving him with well wishes for both Sophie and Parker.

Nate ordered a scotch after she left. He realized he was still standing when the bartender asked if he was going to have a seat; it occurred to him that he didn't want one. He didn't want to stay down here, not when he had Sophie and Parker waiting for him upstairs.

Taking another minute to finish off the scotch, he found himself staring at the seat he used to occupy as a child, sitting on the fringe of his Father's enterprise, observing and learning.

That could be Parker. Every potential was there. But it wouldn't be.

When he opened the door to the apartment he stopped in the doorway; he didn't know what he'd been expecting when he left Parker and Sophie alone – the last time he saw them together, they'd been close. And this time it looked like Sophie had finally managed to break through the walls that kept Parker aloof and guarded.

Snuggled into Sophie's side with the 3D puzzle in a ball was Parker, her head leaning against the nook of Sophie's shoulder and arm. It probably wasn't a comfortable position for Sophie to keep, and he smiled as they both turned to look at him.

"Hey you," Sophie said, the words soft and lazy, unhurried and undressed. They were inviting and calm, the base of contentment.

Only Parker's head had moved to look at him, and she looked back at the ball now, all focus and determination. "We're playing puzzle ball," she told him as a matter-of-fact, her hands gently manipulating the angle of the container.

"Parker's quite marvelous at it," Sophie added, and Nate came around the couch so he could sit down beside them. "Careful," Sophie cautioned, holding her hand out, and he stopped mid-sit.

"What?" he asked after a second of silence.

Sophie nodded down to the ball in Parker's hand – through the plastic he could see the small marble perched precariously on the edge of one of the slotted plastic pieces. It teetered, and finally dropped down to a small teeter-totter; Parker compensated quickly, tilting the ball to the side as it threatened to fall.

"There you go," Sophie whispered encouragingly, and a pleased smile came across Parker's face, the edges of it barely contained. The ball rolled slowly along the teeter-totter, but it picked up momentum, and the next moment there was a soft clatter as it fell off the track and against the bottom of the plastic.

The smile on Parker's face disappeared, and Nate took the opportunity to finally sit down. Parker, though, was clearly dejected, and slumped into Sophie's side. "That was good," he told her with a soft smile, and Sophie reached around Parker's shoulder with her arm, half hugging the girl as she said,

"You're doing brilliantly with it."

"It keeps dropping," Parker mumbled, but she didn't put it down, just glared at it as if her will alone could be enough to make it work. And Nate didn't doubt for a second that she'd be able to master it, if she wanted to.

"Some things just take practice," Nate said, but he was looking at Sophie. Yeah, he was probably going to fuck up irrevocably in the near future, but he meant what he said – he would never be perfect, especially not over night.

Sophie smiled softly at him, relaxed and open; this was Sophie, he realized, at her purest, most unadultered. "You just got to work on them," she said with a secretive smile, and Parker lifting up the ball, ready for another attempt.

"But usually it's worth the effort?" he asked, mostly to Sophie – Parker wasn't paying attention to them anymore, and Nate put his arm up on the couch as well. He shifted a little closer to Parker, who absently shifted to lean against him. His fingers brushed against the back of Sophie's neck and she smiled at him, leaning into the touch with a soft, playful grin,

"Well, I'd say the jury's still out on that one."


End file.
